His left foot: Blue-blood Sheedy still a hero

IT was nice to run into Kevin Sheedy again in Dublin last week.

Talk of the heroes of Genoa invariably focuses on Bonner and O’ Leary: it’s easy to forget that the responsibility of getting Ireland off on the right foot in the penalty shoot-out against Romania fell to the man they call ‘Sheeds’.

Actually, make that the left foot; he simply blasted the ball straight down the middle to cancel out Hagi’s opener. And, of course, it was that same trusty left foot which had saved a nation’s sanity a couple of weeks earlier, when an unerring Sheedy drive ensured that Ireland’s debut on the world stage would not end with the frankly intolerable pain of defeat to England.

Sheedy was in town to help promote the ‘Everton in Ireland’ initiative, which sees the Premiership club forging links with Celbridge-based Ballyouster United as well as deepening their ties with the Irish Toffees Supporters Club.

“I was fortunate to play for Everton and Ireland,” says Sheedy, “so if more young Irish players can come through the system as a result of this link with Ballyouster then that would be great.”

Coaching young players is something close to Sheedy’s heart since he has recently taken up such a role with the Everton youth academy. But he still keeps tabs on the Irish scene and worries that the modern British game makes it harder for talent from here to go all the way over there. “It’s very difficult these days for younger players to get an opportunity, particularly at the bigger clubs,” he concedes. “It’s such a high pressure game now and managers have to get results. Whereas years ago maybe they could afford to give a young player a bit of time and a few games, now they don’t get so many opportunities unfortunately.”

At least the youngsters in Ballyouster and elsewhere can rest assured that if they do go on to get some of their footballing education at Goodison Park, it will be with input from one of Ireland’s greats — and still one of the game’s real gentlemen.