FAME GAME THE AIM FOR JAMES

McClean wants Kenny’s crew to earn special victory to rank alongside Ireland’s great results of the past

- MICHAEL SCULLY

JAMES McCLEAN is targeting one of Ireland’s “famous wins” in September to fire them back into the Euro 2024 qualification mix.

Stephen Kenny's side face the daunting task of meeting France in Paris on September 8 before hosting Holland in Dublin 72 hours later.

But veteran McClean feels Monday's victory over Gibraltar gives Ireland a much-needed starting point in Group B.

He claims that the Dutch, the favourites to take the second automatic qualifying spot on offer, are vulnerable as they lack the team collective that Ireland possess.

"I've seen plenty of them, I don't want to create headlines and be disrespectful," said McClean.

"They seem to have a lot of very good individual players but maybe as a team they're not where they want to be and hopefully we can exploit that.

"I actually think we perform better in the big games, as you've seen here against France.

"We'll see, that's all I can say.