Chasing the American dream

FOR THE youthful and inexperienced players who make up the bulk of Steve Staunton’s makeshift Irish squad, America is this week living up to its billing as the land of opportunity.

For the likes of Wolves striker Andy Keogh, the prospect of a first senior cap means this could still prove to be a landmark trip for the young Dubliner. Keogh turned 21 on the night last week that West Brom dashed Wolves’ dreams of a shot at the Premiership; He was too young to appreciate the heroics of Italia ‘90 but he vividly recalls the peculiar circumstances under which he saw Ray Houghton score Ireland’s winning goal against Italy in the 1994 World Cup in Giants Stadium — the same venue in which Keogh could now make his senior debut for his country against Ecuador on Wednesday.

“I was only about seven,” he recalls. “It was the day we moved into a new house in Dun Laoghaire and we had nothing. We were sitting on the wooden floors with the TV on the ground watching the game and I remember the Ray Houghton goal perfectly. I was with my ma (Linda), my da (Declan) and my brother (Kenny) — the four of us on the wooden floor watching the box. It was great.”

Having cut his footballing teeth at home with St Joseph’s Boys, Keogh has been plying his trade in England since the age of 16, first with Leeds United, where opportunities to break through were limited and then, with increasing goal-scoring success, at Scunthorpe. He’s been an international regular from the U-15s through to the U-21s, but his career suddenly moved up a gear in January when Mick McCarthy brought him to Wolves. Keogh’s striking prowess led QPR boss John Gregory to hail him as “one of the signings of the season.”

Now the Dubliner is on the verge of making a first senior appearance in the green shirt.

“If someone had said to me this time last year that I’d be playing for Wolves and in line for my first cap, I’d have said they were joking,” he reflects. “I mean, I always believed I could do it but I just didn’t think it would come as quick as it has. It’s been a great last year.”

Even with so many big names missing the trip to the States, Steve Staunton still looks blessed with the available range of excited if largely inexperienced striking options — Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, Daryl Murphy, Anthony Stokes and Keogh.

“It’s great, the manager’s spoiled for choice,” the Wolves man observes.

“When Robbie (Keane) comes back he’s obviously straight in and Kevin Doyle’s been brilliant for Reading this year as well. So I just have to try and emulate what they’ve been doing and hopefully get a chance if it comes.”

Which brings us back to why this tour still carries real significance for the Irish players who had their first training session at Montclair University in New Jersey yesterday.

“Hopefully, this season is going to end with me making my debut for Ireland,” says Keogh, “Which is what I’ve always wanted. And it’d be great to cap it off with a good performance or a nice goal. That’s what I’ll desperately be trying to do.”

Just like Ray Houghton at Giants Stadium thirteen years ago? “If I could do that it,” he says with a smile, “it would be a dream come true.”