McCarthy had nothing but praise for his team (Allsport).

Mick McCarthy saluted the bravery of his missed penalty takers following the Republic of Ireland's World Cup shoot-out defeat to Spain, claiming he was proud of every one of his players.

Ireland lost 3-2 on penalties after Robbie Keane had converted an 89th-minute penalty to cancel out Fernando Morientes' early opener and take the game in the Suwon World Cup Stadium into extra time.

Earlier Ian Harte had missed from the spot in the 62nd minute before Matt Holland, David Connolly and Kevin Kilbane all failed to score in the shoot-out.

McCarthy, though, had nothing but praise for these players and he said: "Matty Holland has been one of the players of the tournament for me and he missed a penalty.

"He has been outstanding throughout this tournament and he's been an inspiration in the middle of the park because of what happened prior to the competition.

"So for him to miss was so sad for him. He's heartbroken as is Kevin Kilbane, David Connolly also, and I just feel so sorry for those guys.

"Ian Harte didn't mean to miss his and he's scored enough before.

"Practising taking penalties is garbage. We practised taking penalties two nights before, but it's about standing up and doing it at the end of the day.

"So there's no criticism from me for the lads who took those penalties.

"I've nothing but admiration for the 22 players and the 10 staff. We've every reason to be proud of a performance like that.

"We've gone out of the tournament unbeaten in my opinion, even though we've lost here on penalties.

"It's hugely disappointing to be out of the competition. I thought we did enough to win the game and to lose is not a nice feeling, but that feeling is also mixed with immense pride."

Robbie Keane also defended Harte and he said: "You're not going to score every time you take a penalty and Ian has nothing to be ashamed of."

Goalkeeper Shay Given thought he could be Ireland's hero during the shoot-out, but he admitted it just was not to be.

"I thought with a bit of luck maybe I could be the hero, but it worked out that [Iker] Casillas was the hero," he said.

"He did well and it was just the luck of the penalty shoot-out.

"I'm so disappointed because we deserved a lot more from the game and we should have beaten them before it went to penalties because we had some great chances."

Given revealed that Niall Quinn, who along with Steve Staunton confirmed his international retirement after the second-round game, tried to lift everyone in the Irish dressing room.

"Big Quinny, one of the more experienced lads, got the heads up saying we have nothing to be ashamed of and that we'd done the country proud.

"Looking back we got to the last 16 of the World Cup so we can take a lot of credit for that."

Niall Quinn said: "I'm going out on just the right note. You might think this is a low note to go out on, but I've seen what this team is capable of and I think there are really exciting times ahead.

"The days of Ireland just being happy qualifying for competitions are over and we will be a presence at competitions.

"I'm just looking forward to wrapping myself in a tricolour and going to watch this team with my family."

Steve Staunton, who was forced off injured on his 102nd and last appearance for the Irish, said: "I'm going to hang up my boots on this scene.

"There's enough here for Mick to work with and I don't think my knee can handle a few more years of this to be honest."

The Irish perhaps could have pressed Spain more in extra time when Jose Antonio Camacho's side were reduced to 10 men because substitute Albelda had to come off with a hamstring injury.

However Given confirmed that none of the Irish noticed that they had a man advantage for the last 30 minutes.

Casillas felt this fact made their victory all the more commendable.

"We proved today that we have an excellent team spirit by playing the last 30 minutes with just 10 men," he said.

"When it came to the penalty shoot-out, I had a lot of things in my head. I thought this might be the end for us or that we would get to the quarter-finals.

"In the penalty shoot-out you need luck, but we didn't win it just because of luck.

"We had a lot of opportunities to score before the penalty shoot-out and we deserved this."

That view was echoed by Spain's coach Jose Antonio Camacho.

"Although the Irish made lots of opportunities, we should have won earlier than a penalty shoot-out," said Camacho.

"We had lost of chances to decide the game, but we sufferd a lot tonight and we had to play a lot of extra time with only 10 players becasue we had injuries."

"I do not think the last one (Keane's spot-kick in normal time) was a penalty and the referee has not always decided for the Spanish side," he added.

Camacho had looked particularly nervous on the sidelines throughout the game, and he said: "It is a World Cup so the feelings are high."

Spain will now face the winners of Italy's match with Korea in the next round on Saturday.

"Italy have shown in past World Cups how strong they can be," he said.

"But Korea have big motivation to play us. They are playing in their own stadiums and intheir own country."