Hoolahan a luxury we can’t do without

As the Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane roller-coaster gathered pace again at the start of the week, with players arriving from all corners of the UK after their club fixtures, everyone was hoping we could keep the momentum going after the solid start against Latvia and Poland.

Sadly that wasn’t to be the case. Instead, if anything, the loss to Serbia gave everyone a bit of a reality check.

It was the Irish starting line-up I had anticipated, barring Anthony Pilkington playing instead of James McClean on the flank. I just felt it was an ideal opportunity to see what Pilkington could produce for us as, since Damien Duff’s retirement, we have lacked that little bit of creativity in wide areas. Options have been limited, with too much expected of Aiden McGeady to be the one to constantly produce the magic for us.