Guardian:
‘Such has been the hostility to Mick McCarthy from Roy Keane's sympathisers in the Irish media, the only thing that is missing is for one of the newspapers here to superimpose a turnip on his head. McCarthy is bewildered and hurt by his plummeting popularity and there will be little respite after a dishevelled performance last night that ended with fans calling for Keane's reinstatement.
This was the first competitive defeat at Lansdowne Road since McCarthy succeeded Jack Charlton six years ago and, however unfair it may seem, there will inevitably be questions about his future. He will have been particularly stung by the chorus of disapproval that greeted his appearance on the touchline after the final whistle, while outside the street traders were doing a roaring business with T-shirts showing Keane and the Cork rebel Michael Collins: "Two Irish heroes - both stabbed in the back."’ [err weren’t they on sale in the Summer?]