Why Euro 2004 is a must for Ireland's young guns

Former Ireland captain and Irish Examiner columnist Andy Townsend.

IT’S NOT a time for recrimination. I haven’t the stomach for it anyway. Over the course of the last three hours, I’ve gone from neck-hair standing to attention to a sickness in my stomach and virtual immobility in my legs.

I haven’t been as choked by a footballing occasion, and I haven’t been as emotional since the World Cup in America eight years ago.

Over the top? Yes. But there’s a storm of angst brewing in the pit of my stomach and I’m not sure whether its frustration or downright sadness. Either way, I’m not going to hammer Mick McCarthy or the Irish players. If you’re looking for that, turn the page.

Over the last week at the ITV studios, we’ve had a daily round of disputes over penalty preparation. Does practice make perfect? Not in my book. You can’t simulate the context of a penalty shoot-out in the World Cup last sixteen.

You want to try? How about a feeling so bad that your legs are barely moving, one in front of the other as you head towards the penalty spot. Hello, that ball looks the size of a tennis ball. How am I going to make contact with that? Oh Christ, will I miss it completely, will I fresh air it? How many squillion people are watching? Now I remember Cas in 1990, scuffing the thing past the Romanian keeper. Maybe volunteering wasn’t a great idea after all.

And all that’s before you even start dealing with the challenge of beating a world class keeper who’s got nothing to lose and, oh yeah, the small issue of three and a half million people, including your wife and children who have to go to school in the morning, at home begging you not to let them down.

Easy now?

So, I’m not going to get smart with Matty Holland, David Connolly, Kevin Kilbane and Ian Harte before them.

They’re the unlucky lads on this occasion. The lucky one was a chunky Spanish manager who was sweating literally and metaphorically on his job in extra time. I watched the game with Terry Venables in the ITV studio, and he reckoned that Camacho had lost the plot and would have been slaughtered today in Spain had they failed to advance.

Only our inability to apply the finishing Lennox Lewis right hander in extra time saved Camacho. He knew, we knew, the world knew that Spain were hanging on for dear life and only the absence of a clinical finish from Ireland spared them. Ian Harte’s a brave lad for stepping up to the penalty, but if that sequence of events was remarkable, how much more astonishing was Spain’s reaction? Having been given the cheapest wake up call in football history, they recoiled still further, inviting the most stubborn opposition in the tournament to knock them out.

Mick McCarthy’s changed things again, withdrawing Kelly for Quinn and pushing Damien Duff out to the right flank (to work in tandem with Steve Finnan) a move that had me perplexed at first, but nobody can say that Duff didn’t scare the living daylights out of Juanfran. How often has anyone seen Gaizka Mendieta introduced as a defensive left-sided midfielder?

Its too soon to debate Duff’s future, but Blackburn will have to work miracles to keep him at Ewood Park. Good club, good manager but I can’t see the Irish star staying. It will only take Mr Cragnotti of Lazio to start with an initial £30m offer to start a cascade of rumours and news stories in the press. I simply can’t see Graeme Souness holding onto their prize asset, though he’ll probably stop short of moving to the continent. Herman Crespo at £35m? What’s Duffer worth?

He’s been the shining light, but Robbie Keane has re-established his striking credentials on the world stage with three World Cup finals goals, Steve Finnan has enhanced his stature as a defender of genuine class, and Gary Breen has developed into the story of the tournament.

Shay Given came into the World Cup with a reputation, and embellished it in each of his four outings. Notice a trend? Each of the above are 25 or less, and come into their prime for the Euros in Portugal in two years.

And that’s the next crucial landmark. It’s 1988, Stuttgart and all that since we were in a European Championship finals, and it’s important for the development of this squad that we make the next one.

I sincerely hope that Mick McCarthy is driving the ship, but I’m not so sure. I saw his after-match interview.....great lads...great experience....done the nation proud......It could be interpreted as a televised farewell. No one can rule out the possibility that he will walk away from the inevitable post mortem that will kick in once the euphoric homecoming is done and dusted.

Naturally Roy Keane will be central to all that, whether he wants to be or not. I have deliberately avoided mentioning Keane in my World Cup columns since his departure, but to the inevitable question: Have we missed him?’ I’d say you miss your best player whatever the occasion. But someone has to be big enough to agree that bygones must be bygones for the good of the nation. If either McCarthy or Keane walks away for good, the country loses.

They’ll be hurting this morning in Seoul. Thinking of families, children, getting back to the same routine, just wanting to climb on a plane and wake up in the real world. However, very soon they’ll realise that they were part of something very big. Special times. And then the heart will hurt.

It shouldn’t. But it will.

Copyright: Andy Townsend

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