Saturday, August 14, 2010
WHAT a long, strange week it’s been.
It had all looked perfectly scripted in advance but events, dear boy, conspired to make Ireland’s first home game at the Aviva Stadium anything but straight forward. I suppose Maradona’s presence could never have been taken for granted, even when Argentina were flying at the World Cup and the great man was dispensing hugs and kisses all around, but little did we think that his Irish counterpart would also fail to make the cut, Il Trap becoming Ill Trap and missing the grand opening of his adopted home.
The medical bulletins assure us that we can afford to smile about it now but that wasn’t the case when Dr Alan Byrne unexpectedly showed up in the manager’s place at the eve of match press conference on Tuesday morning. Most of us looking up in alarm from our media seats were instantly returned to May and the last time the good Doctor had appeared before us. That was to inform the world in graphic detail of just how close to death young Shane Duffy had come the night before as a result of a freak accident in a training game at Gannon Park. So you can appreciate that it almost came as comic relief on Tuesday to hear that, at that point, the medics were inclined to attribute Trap’s hospitalisation to a case of food poisoning brought on by a plate of mussels. (The second cause for relief, of course, was when we learned that it was his native Italian, rather than, perish the thought, Irish cuisine which was getting the blame for laying him low).
Incidentally, we shouldn’t allow the moment to pass without hailing what was easily the happiest Irish sports story of the week – the remarkable news that, less than two months after his life-saving surgery, Duffy was back on the pitch, in action in Sligo for Everton reserves on Sunday, following which he attended the opening international in the new stadium.
"I know what happened that day in Malahide," he said later. "I know that I nearly died on that pitch, but I have to move on and not dwell on it. I don’t want the injury to be hanging over me for the rest of my career or my life. I can’t live off that forever, I want to push it away and just be known for my football."
The life-saving intervention of the FAI medical team on the pitch, the successful surgery at the Mater Hospital and his progress all confirm that another high-profile football patient couldn’t have been in better hands when he was taken ill last week, and especially when it turned out that Giovanni Trapattoni’s problems were somewhat more complicated than first believed, requiring corrective stomach surgery from which he continues to recuperate.
Again, the medics assure us that he’s fine and that, even at the grand old age of 71, the remarkably fit Trapattoni is certain to make the seven-hour flight to Armenia in just a couple of weeks’ time.
So, for all the razzmatazz surrounding Wednesday’s game at the Aviva, the sense persists that, after a flat game ended in defeat, it was all something of a false start to a new era which will only properly get under way when Ireland kick off their European campaign in faraway Yerevan.
The biggest lesson to be learned from Wednesday? Giovanni Trapattoni knew it long before he switched on the telly in his hospital room – it’s simply that, whether the opposition is a Messi-inspired Argentina or the less than household names of Armenia, Ireland can’t afford to go into battle without its big guns.
Sure, young Greg Cunningham did no harm to his status as first in line to succeed Kevin Kilbane and Paul Green once again burnished his credentials as a real contender for a central midfield spot but, even with the likes of Andy Keogh and Keith Treacy buzzing about when they came off the bench, there can be little doubt that, if all are fit and available, Kevin Doyle, Glenn Whelan and Sean St Ledger will regain their places next month while Aiden McGeady and Liam Lawrence will fight it out for the one vacant spot on the flanks.
In other words, the age old reality is that Irish football can ill afford to see any of its currently favourite sons succumb to injury in the coming weeks and months.
But what of a prodigal son who is out of favour for both club and country? As the Premiership kicks off, Stephen Ireland is once again making headlines off the pitch rather than on it, a state of affairs which needs to be rectified quickly if the most talented Irish player around isn’t to succumb to potentially irreversible decline.
And how about this for a solution out of left-field: Alex Ferguson to step in and mount an 11th-hour rescue bid? The move, from City to United, might be even more sensational than the one which took Eric Cantona to Old Trafford from Elland Road, but it’s not hard to imagine that the results could be equally beneficial for club and player. Ireland needs a manager who will whip him into shape and Ferguson needs a gifted playmaker to succeed Paul Scholes.
Okay, so it might not hasten a return to international football for Stephen Ireland but, then again, if a week in football can be long and strange, how many twists and turns can we expect from a whole season?
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