Putting a Cork in it

WHEN Steve Staunton was faced with a defensive crisis for Saturday’s clash with Germany, one name hardly deemed worthy of a mention was Darren O’Dea.

With Paul McShane out through suspension, John O’Shea struggling through injury and late call-up Andy O’Brien withdrawing with a kidney problem, Irish defensive options were stretched.

The Celtic defender had been included in the senior squad for the Croke Park clash with Wales in March on the back of an excellent run of form at club level, so he should have been a live candidate.

O’Dea, 20, had looked the real deal as he made Champions League appearances against Copenhagen and most notably home and away to AC Milan in the quarter-finals.

It sums up how poorly this season has gone for the Dubliner that he was hardly considered by Staunton last week.

As it happened, O’Dea did represent his country well in a thrilling 3-2 under-21 friendly win over Sweden in Uppsala. And it seems certain he will be a key player for Don Givens’ youngsters in their UEFA U-21 qualifier against England at Turner’s Cross tomorrow (8pm).

Not that the former Home Farm schoolboy is complaining. He has played more times for his country’s under-21s than his club this season.

“I’ve played more international than I have club football this year. That’s probably not ideal but when you come away with Ireland you’re always playing quality opposition and none more so than England,” he said. “It’s obviously not been great for me this season. I was injured towards the end of last season and ended up doing a lot of work before pre-season that I probably shouldn’t have done.

“I should have taken the time off. I wanted to come back flying but ended up putting myself back. It’s something I’ll learn from.

“It’s not pleasing when you’re not playing. I need to be playing but that’s the way things go and I’ll just have to work as hard as I can to get back in, which I’m doing.”

The thrilling group stage victory over European champions, Milan, two weeks ago only heightens the sense of frustration for O’Dea as he was an unused sub.

Many would expect the Monkstown native to be banging on Gordon Strachan’s door and O’Dea is aware that his career will be hampered by lack of action.

However he understands the situation. “There’s not much needs to be said to the manager. We’re top of the league, doing okay in the Champions League and still in both cups,” he admitted. “So it’s quite hard for me to go in and knock on the door and say ‘why am I not playing?’ That said, it is something that needs to be addressed because I need to be playing.

“I made good progress last year but it’s about progressing each year and at the moment I feel as if I’m standing still a tiny bit.

“I was involved in that Milan game last year and it was great to experience that, although we didn’t get through. It was obviously a great night this time because we won.

“I would consider a loan. I’d consider anything I can to start playing football but it’s up to the manager and what he thinks.”

His misfortune this time around has been to his country’s gain and the clash with an England side packed with Premiership talent is a challenge he is relishing.

“The under-21 games have now become even more important for me,” said O’Dea. “Coming up the club games I know I’m on the bench so these Irish games are what I’m playing for at the moment. Everybody wants to play. These games are very important to me.

“I’ve not played against Gabriel Agbonlahor but I’ve played against other good players. I know it’ll be a tough test but we’ll all need to be on our toes and everybody will be up for the task. We’ll take a lot of confidence from the Sweden result. It wasn’t perfect. Sometimes we had to dig in and defend but that’s what you have to do. It’s a good result and we’ll be looking to carry that on into Tuesday.”

O’Dea acknowledges that the Irish display against Portugal in their opening UEFA Under-21 qualifier at Turner’s Cross last month was below what the players expect of themselves.

“In this side we have a lot of attacking options so to not create at home was disappointing,” he said. “I felt against Portugal we weren’t at it in enough areas, defensively as well. We weren’t in their faces enough and its something we’ll need to do against England.

“Any chances we do get we’ll need to take. It’s obviously pleasing to score three goals against a side like Sweden and we have to look to take it with us against the English.”