Talented duo’s time will come
COULD David Meyler and James McClean actually make Ireland’s squad for Euro 2012? People would be forgiven for thinking you’d enjoyed a few too many pints of the black stuff if, at the start of the season, you had made such a claim.
Now, while both are still outside bets to represent Ireland at the Euros this summer, the claim is not so outlandish. And it would be a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the pair to make the tournament.
Not so long ago Meyler was battling back from his second serious knee injury amid rumours that he was finished. McClean, meanwhile, was in the same position as Meyler was in 2008 — unknown, untried, and unlikely to play.
Meyler was signed for Sunderland by fellow Corkman Roy Keane in the summer of 2008, for a fee believed to be in the region of £250,000. However, he had to wait around a year-and-a-half, and a change of manager, for his debut, which led to many thinking, and fearing, he was the second coming of the failed Roy O’Donovan.
He has so far failed to establish himself as a regular in the first team, but that’s more to do with some horrible luck with injuries rather than his ability, or form, because when he has played he’s been excellent. Had he stayed injury free, I’ve no doubts he’d be a regular in the Sunderland midfield, and possibly the Ireland one as well.
He’s not ‘a flashy player’ and ‘isn’t afraid to do the dirty work’, to use the common descriptions of a midfielder who tackles and passes and many Sunderland fans will tell you he’s just as good as England’s Jordan Henderson, who we sold to Liverpool for £16m not so long ago. Meyler has, of course, played for the Ireland U21 side, been called-up for the senior squad, and would probably have a few caps to his name already if not for injury.
Although he didn’t have to wait anywhere near as long, McClean also had to wait for a change in manager before getting a chance in the first team. Signed by Steve Bruce last summer, for £350,000, he was occasionally on the bench; but never looked like getting off it.
Then Martin O’Neill arrived, and McClean — along with the rest of the team, and the fans — benefited massively. He was given his chance, from the bench, against Blackburn, in O’Neill’s first game. He electrified the crowd and changed the game, and hasn’t looked back since.
Quick, strong, good in the air, nice dribbling skills, high work rate, and a brilliant crosser of the ball. He is the archetypal old-school winger, and has an eye for goal as well. He already has two to his name in a Sunderland career very much in its infancy.
Born in Derry, he represented the North’s U21 side but has since pledged his allegiance to the Republic, saying: “My dream has always been to play for the Republic. If I don’t get called up, then I’ll live with that but I have confidence in my own ability that I will get a call-up at some stage.”
Meyler will be fighting for a place in the squad against the likes of Darron Gibson, who Sunderland almost signed, and the talented Wigan youngster James McCarthy.
McClean, meanwhile, is up against the likes of Stephen Hunt and Aiden McGeady, both of whom have been fixtures in the Irish squad for quite some time.
If Meyler, once fully fit, can get himself a run in the Sunderland side, then it won’t be long before he’s winning his first Ireland cap. Likewise, if McClean continues his current form, he will be impossible for Giovanni Trapattoni to ignore.
They’d both be wildcard picks, of sorts, if selected for the Euro squad. However, they’re young, talented and hungry, and it’s a question of when, not if, they make their Ireland debuts.
The Euros may come just too soon, but if they do go, they won’t let anybody down.
