Keogh eyes new beginning

BY HIS own admission, Andy Keogh was “rotting away” on the bench at Wolves but the Dubliner is hoping his temporary switch to Cardiff City can reboot a career that had stalled at club and international levels.

The 24-year old striker made the season-long switch to the Welsh capital shortly after the start of the season and has been rewarded with more game time at a club that had demonstrated its growing ambition by landing the services of Craig Bellamy weeks earlier.

Keogh may have dropped down a division but everything about the Bluebirds hints at better times to come, from the ground and facilities to their second-place Championship spot behind QPR after 10 games.

Keogh is still dividing his time between his Birmingham base and Cardiff and has thus to completely find his bearings but he is beginning to get to grips with Dave Jones’ approach, one that is less intense than Mick McCarthy’s at Molineux. The settling-in period was accelerated two weekends ago when he scored a last-minute winner against Millwall in his first Championship match in almost 18 months.

“The experience from the Premier League helps, but I was rusting away so I needed to get out, go on loan and get some game time and I’m happy.”

The hope is that his increased visibility will serve him well on the international front and attract the attention of Giovanni Trapattoni, who has used him only sparingly since taking over as Ireland manager. Lest it be forgotten, it was Keogh who scored the very first goal of the Italian’s reign, against Serbia in Croke Park in May 2008, but he has added just nine caps in the time since.

“I can’t really complain about not playing. Every player wants to play but you’ve got to look at Doyler and Keano up front and can’t argue with who is playing. They’re top players and brilliant for Ireland every time.”

Scroll down through the list of appearances for his country since his debut against Ecuador in May 2007 and you will find that he replaced, or was replaced by, Stephen Hunt, Lee Carsley, Aiden McGeady, Wes Hoolahan and Damien Duff.

“I would agree that it helps that I’m versatile and can play wide as well. It’s always better for the manager to have players who can cover different positions, it can make his life easier when injuries do come.”

That has changed of late. He got 34 minutes up front against Argentina at Aviva Stadium in August and swapped places with Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle in the death throes of the qualifiers against Armenia and Andorra.

“I’ve come on up front in the last two games,” he said. “That’s where I play at club level. It’s my preferred position. If that’s the role he wants me to play, I’m more than happy to play it.”