Keane a striker supreme
Back out here in the Gulf to continue rehab on my injury, I was invited to the Qatar GAA fundraiser night on Friday to present their player of the year awards. It never ceases to amaze me how Irish people can congregate in whatever far-flung corner of the globe they happen to find themselves and somehow manage to make it feel like a home from home. I experienced this quite a lot with Irish centres around England at various clubs I was at, and I always loved it. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the ex-pats and met some very funny characters.
Where do I start about Robbie Keane and his achievements at international level? It actually annoyed me a little in the build-up to this match that, suddenly, everybody seemed to be jumping on the bandwagon to proclaim how great Robbie has been for Ireland — just because he was going to surpass Shay Given’s record caps tally.
Why should it have taken that remarkable milestone for people to acknowledge the dedication and desire he has shown right from the age of 17 when he made his debut? It has always baffled me when I’ve heard people moan about Robbie and criticise him down through the years. He is one of the most patriotic people I know and I wouldn’t like to think about where Irish football would be if we hadn’t had him for the last 15 years.
When I was growing up, our two main goalscorers were big Niall Quinn and John Aldridge. I absolutely worshipped them and the rest of the team. But, as good as they were as players and as vital as their contributions were to Irish football, neither came close to achieving what Robbie has in his international career.
It’s simply amazing to think that our small nation has produced a player who has amassed 126 caps and scored 59 goals in the process. The caps record will take some beating but I find it hard to believe the goals record will ever be surpassed, especially since there’s probably a few more still to come from Robbie. In his own words, he hasn’t done bad for a lad from Tallaght.
It’s been a very good couple of weeks for the team, with two impressive performances in the friendlies against England and Georgia, before the World Cup qualifier against the Faroes. There was no room for error or complacency in this match, because if we didn’t get the three points then we wouldn’t be going to Rio.
I was glad Wes Hoolahan started as I’ve long been an admirer of his. I suppose the manager’s thinking would have been that we were bound to have the lion’s share of possession against Faroes and, in that context, we all know that Wes is very good at dictating play with his precise passing and probing runs. And he certainly didn’t disappoint, as he grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and was pivotal to most of the good things we did on what, even from this distance, I could see was a lovely, sunny evening at Lansdowne Road.
I really like the balance we have in our full-back positions with Seamus Coleman and Marc Wilson. They are very contrasting players but complement each other and the team very well. Seamus is all action and can transform us from defending to attacking with his direct running within seconds. Marc is very composed in possession and can bring the ball out of defence and pick very good passes that open up the opposition midfield.
It would have been nice to grab another few goals to boost our goal difference after the defeat by Germany but we will have to be content with three. With Austria beating Sweden the same night, it really has made it a straight battle between those two nations and ourselves to see who will finish behind the Germans. We need to hope all our players are firing on all cylinders come the autumn when we play the four final crucial matches. If we have a fully fit squad then I’m confident we can do it.
In contrast to the doom and gloom after the Euros a year ago, I feel we now have a lot to be optimistic about. It was the end of an era in some ways after that tournament, with Shay Given and Duffer retiring. Other people needed to step up to the plate and shoulder more responsibility. And that’s precisely what has happened – players like Shane Long, Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy in particular have shown great consistency and given us another dimension.
And so on to the small matter of facing the current World and European Champions in New York tomorrow night. It’s another match I’m raging to be missing, since to play in such an historic venue in front of a very passionate and predominantly Irish crowd would have been an occasion to remember.
I can only hope the lads who do get to play will put it up to Spain and be able to leave Yankee Stadium – and finish off our international season — with heads held high.
