Dunne focuses on finals goal

STEVE STAUNTON has made no secret of the fact that he sees himself engaged in a rebuilding programme which has the World Cup 2010 as its ultimate goal, even as he tries to steer his transitional Irish side through to the European finals in Switzerland and Austria in 20 months’ time.

That, perhaps, is one of the burdens of international management. But from a player’s perspective, things can look a little different.

Hence Richard Dunne’s insistence that, while experimentation is all well and good, the priority for the Republic of Ireland squad must be to qualify for the next European Championships.

“You understand that the manager wants to try new things but we still want to qualify for this tournament,” says the Manchester City defender.

“That’s the main thing. Four years is a long time. And I’m sure if we’re going to qualify for tournaments, that will benefit players even more. We need to keep as much experience as we can. If he wants to try new players out, try them out when the time’s ready. For me, anyway, it’s a tournament that we have a chance of qualifying for. We should build along the way but we should also, first and foremost, concentrate on qualifying.”

Doubtless, Dunne’s appetite for immediate success is sharpened by the fact that his only previous experience of big tournament football was as an unused squad member at the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea in 2002.

And for a period after that there was a danger that his career would enter a permanent wilderness as he struggled to marry the demands of professional football with an ill-disciplined personal lifestyle.

Infamously, Kevin Keegan showed him a yellow card at Manchester City when he once turned up for training the worse for wear. But the Dubliner came back from the brink, and is belatedly reaping the rewards at international level for a consistently high level of performance in the Premiership.

“I’ve had a good spell at club level over the past three or four years, so that has kept me going,” says the defender, who will be making his 32nd appearance for his country this evening.

“Obviously, I would have liked to have more caps but hopefully the next five or six years will be my time. Yes, I wish things had worked out differently when I was younger but then I probably wouldn’t be the person or the player I am now. That’s life and that’s the way my life has gone.

“I don’t worry about it, I just look forward to what’s in front of me.”

How regimented is his life now?

“It’s just normal. It’s different when you’re 18, 19 or 20. But I’m 27 now, I’ve got a daughter. I look after her and I keep myself right. The rest is all in the past. It’s happened and I’ve done it and I’ve come out the other side and I feel better for it.

“The last couple of seasons have gone really well from a personal point of view. Since Stuart Pearce has taken over we’ve covered a lot of defensive things and that’s been of benefit to me. I’ve also been in the side regularly and struck up a very good partnership with Sylvain Distin. It’s just consistencies all around me that have helped me settle into the team.”

The player once known as ‘The Honeymonster’ cuts a leaner if still imposing figure nowadays.

“I’ve probably lost a stone over the past four years,” he admits a little wearily, all too conscious that journalists love to mine the theme of rejuvenation and redemption. “A couple of years ago, when I’d come back, people would say I’d lost a stone. Then I’d play two weeks and they’d say I’d lost another stone. It was ridiculous. For myself and for my own life, in terms of keeping a healthy weight and a healthy diet, I’m glad that I’ve not lost a stone and put up a stone. Because I’ve done it over a few years, it’s not the kind of pressure which I have to think about, it’s just gradually become part of what I do.

“As I keep saying, it’s all about growing up and learning from the likes of Trevor Sinclair and Claudio Reyna, and seeing how they keep themselves fit throughout their careers.”

Stuart Pearce says that he and Distin need to be more “arrogant” at the heart of the City defence

“Arrogant?” he muses. “Well, we like to keep a high line at City and sometimes the manager thinks that we haven’t enough confidence in ourselves to defend that high line, we tend to drop off, and it has an effect on the whole team because we all tend to sit back a little bit. I think he just wants us to be a bit braver about ourselves.”

Could the same be said about the Irish team? “I think we need a bit more belief in ourselves. I suppose it’s an Irish thing but we seem to take criticism to heart and it effects us. It is something we have to get used to. It comes and goes and we need to brush it under the table and start afresh the next game. I think our performance against Germany was a massive improvement on the Dutch game and it’s the same sort of leap again that we need for the next two qualifiers.

“We should go into the Cyprus game thinking that we can win. It’s a fixture that we’ve generally won in the past. Even though we didn’t play great last time we still came out with the three points. It’s a fixture that I don’t think we should have any fear about, even though we have to show them respect.

“As good as the Cyprus players are, we just have to believe we have better ones. If everyone just trusts their ability then we should be okay.”

But just as Dunne is setting his face towards the immediate future, he is pulled back again and asked to recall the World Cup game in Nicosia one year ago, a night when Ireland were extremely lucky to escape with a win after a woeful performance.

“I think that was a must-win game, and all the focus was that we had to beat Cyprus to give ourselves a chance on the Wednesday [against Switzerland],” he reflects. “Probably when we scored early that was the worst thing that could have happened to us. We seemed to take our foot off the gas and think, well, let’s concentrate on Wednesday. As the night turned out, we were very grateful to Shay Given. It was a bad performance all around and there can be no excuses for it.

“But,” he adds with a smile, “we’d settle for the same result on Saturday.”