Cunningham keen to make the cut

TO say that Greg Cunningham has been plucked from obscurity might be to misrepresent the case of a player who, after all, makes his home amongst the would-be galacticos of Manchester City.

But after a season in which he made his debut for the Blues, got his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland squad for the friendly against Brazil and then, two nights ago, made his first senior appearance in the green shirt in a training game against the Irish U23s, it certainly seems as if the 19-year-old Galwegian is on a fast-track into the limelight.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s decision to retain the players in his developmental squad for next week’s friendlies against Paraguay and Algeria, means Cunningham now has to miss out on Ireland’s U19 European Championship qualifiers in the Ukraine.

But the upside is that, with Kevin Kilbane ruled out of action for those friendlies at the RDS, the former Mervue United man is one step nearer a full debut for his country.

Cunningham admits that the speed with which his career has accelerated has taken him by surprise.

“Yeah, just trying to take everything as it comes,” he says. “Hopefully on this trip I might get my first senior cap and then after it I might get to just sit down with the family, take a deep breath with a cup of tea and try to take it all in.

“But looking back at the start of the season, I wouldn’t have thought that I’d be making my Premier League debut, playing three times for the first team and obviously getting called up for the senior team. But I try to take every day as it comes and just go with the flow I suppose.

“I’ve sort of gone to this level now by making my debut at City but I’m not going to just sit on that, I want to keep plugging away, move on to the next level, cement the place in the first team at left back and then obviously get into this international senior team and see how it goes.”

Despite the media focus on marquee names at Eastlands, Cunningham credits manager Roberto Mancini with also giving youth its chance.

“He’s been great in the way he looks towards the youngsters,” says Cunningham. “He’s got great confidence in us and he’s just told us, along with Brian Kidd and Andy Welsh our reserve manager, to keep working hard and have a good attitude. There’s four of us now who have made our first team debuts from the academy.

“Obviously once the takeover happened and they were buying in new players, all the youngsters were getting a bit worried about whether they’d get the chance but you’ve seen with the new manager coming in and four of us having made our debuts, that he has confidence in the youngsters. Our reserves won the Manchester senior cup and finished second in the league as well so there’s a great buzz about the place and a belief that if you keep working hard you will get your chance.”

Cunningham insists that he tries not to pay too much attention to the constant media speculation about his club.

“Ah, well, you’re always going to get that really,” he reflects. “Obviously with City being such a high profile club you’re going to get loads of publicity about who’s coming in and who is going out or if the manager’s job is safe or not.

“But you try not to read or believe everything you read in the papers. If they come in they come in but you’ve got to believe in yourself, believe that you’re better than the player that’s in your position and then you’ve got to keep plugging away, keep working hard and see where it goes from there.”

Cunningham has two years left on a contract he signed last January and is determined to make the most of it.

“It’s a bit of relief and great to know that I have the two years,” he says, “but I don’t want to sit back on that contract and think, ‘I’m okay now’. I want to take every week as if it’s my last, every day as if it’s my last, and just keep on pressing.”