What a difference a Quinn makes

THE old man and his head. A simple flick into the path of Robbie Keane continued the story on a Japanese night throbbing with raw emotion.

Nobody is quite sure when it all began, not even the old man himself. Memory has meshed the years into a blur. Was it 1987 when Jack lifted him from the bench and threw him in against the Brazilians? He can’t be certain anymore.

He does know he was given about 20 minutes by his former Captain Fantastic to make a difference in Ibaraki: "Yeah, Mick just said to me at half-time ‘I might need you, in the last ten or 20 minutes, it might just be one flick, but I might need you’. I know it sounds like scraps, but I take what I can get. In the past few months, I have trained as well as I could, got myself right.

"I mightn’t have another part to play in this competition, but I enjoyed what I did have there. I was glad to be a part of it."

And Niall Quinn stops for a breath, to compose his thoughts.

This scene has never changed, seems like it will never change. Just another wild Irish night somewhere foreign with Quinny summarising the emotions.

He has been through the treadmill more than anyone. Stuttgart, Genoa, Lansdowne against the Dutch and now Ibaraki. Time hasn’t dulled the passion, though.

"I’ve been very, very lucky," Quinn observes. "Back in the dressing-room, I was thinking how I came on a sub when Ireland beat Brazil in 1987 or something, played against England when we beat them in 88, I have Italia 90 of course.

"Okay, I missed out on 94, but that is all I am missing. I came on against Holland in Lansdowne and I have played in all the other big games."

Where does this rank? "It is right up there. With the pressure we were under, and the huge crowd that was here, we felt we would have to answer some questions here and see how good we are.

And to see a German team hacking balls clear, arguing with each other, the disappointment on their faces because they knew we were the better team," and he trails off.

Even after all these years, some words can’t fit the event. And then, there’s the old man and his feet. He only discovered them later in his career, some managers intent on seeing him as a target man. But, he discovered there was plenty of skill down there, plenty of guile. Often made him think he should have been using them earlier.

Like when the clock was ticking and nerves were fraught and he controlled Steve Finnan’s long pass, swivelled into a shooting position and dug the ball from the ground. Almost lobbed Kahn, almost but watched as the ball rested on the top of Kahn’s net. Almost summed up the night.

"I knew it was getting late at that stage," he recalls. "They were bringing on subs, so I knew the Germans were killing time, but I had only been on the field for 15 minutes, so I wasn’t that tired," he smiles one of Irish football’s familiar smiles, the smile that says things are going well.

McCarthy had a few quiet words in his ear as he limbered up. Important words.

"He asked me to make sure the two lads stayed up. He didn’t want Robbie or Damien dropping deep. That was important, because Robbie almost got in one time before that.

"And Robbie reads things so well, it was pure instinct the way he ran onto that header of mine. All I have ever told him was I try to drop headers inside. He’s an absolute gem. To burst through in the 92nd minute against a team like Germany on a night that is supposed to drain your energy, that says it all. Everyone thinks the world of him."