Plenty to ponder on the way forward for Ireland
A fortnight after Darron Gibson and James McCarthy took their end-of-season break, those fully committed to the international cause departed on their own summer holidays after Tuesday night’s win over Italy.
The Stayaways were given plenty of food for thought to go with their five-star cocktails as Ireland produced four wins from four games in their absence and Giovanni Trapattoni took note.
The Getaways like Shane Long looked forward to a well-earned break back home in Tipperary after a long and hard season at Reading — the club he expects to report back to for pre-season training next month, despite interest from Liverpool, Everton, Wolves and Aston Villa.
And the Wantaways like Sean St Ledger and Paul McShane, both linked with Neil Lennon’s Celtic, headed for the sun in the hope that Tuesday night’s shift against Italy was enough to persuade someone to take them away from Preston and Hull City respectively in the coming weeks.
But they did so with a warning for the Stayaways from stand-in captain McShane, as an unfamiliar Irish team once again applied the Trapattoni letter to the law with perfection.
“The players who didn’t turn up may regret it after the fortnight we’ve had,” said McShane.
“I think if I was in their shoes and I was looking at the results we have got in those four games, then I’d be kicking myself a little bit.
“If you were sitting at home or chilling on holiday and watching the four games against Macedonia, Italy, Northern Ireland and Scotland, you would have to be thinking ‘I wish I was there, I wish I was part of that’.
“Despite everything that was said, the whole trip has been great from start to finish. We have kept four clean sheets. We’ve won all four games and that can only help for the matches against Slovakia and Russia in September.
“We had a great bunch together for the past two weeks and there is great belief there now.”
For Long, the journey home to Tipperary yesterday may have been his last as a Reading player but he isn’t sure what is going to happen.
“I am a Reading player and I am looking forward to a Reading season next year unless that changes over the next few weeks,” said the player whose contract expires in 12 months, a fact which may limit his transfer value to €5.5m.
“I am just going to take a few weeks out now, relax at home and if anything does come my way, I’ll have a look at it. Clubs have to come in first so we will see what happens. It’s been a long season with Reading and we finished on a bit of a low but I played over 50 games this season, scored over 20 goals and I learnt a lot.
“That’s why I am looking forward to next season with the club but all the same, a few weeks out will be nice.”
Like the other fringe players on duty for the Italian job, Long hopes he made a European Championship point for the hour he was on the field in Liege after he was left out of the starting team in Macedonia.
“There’s a long list of strikers now and we are all looking to start,” added Long. “There is real competition for places and that improves the people on the field.
“They know that if they don’t do it on the pitch, they are going to be replaced by someone who is raring to go. That’s a nice headache for the manager to have and hopefully those of us who played on Tuesday are in his thoughts now for the next game.”
For St Ledger the Italy game, his first in two and a half months since a knee injury, was a real shop-window moment following Preston’s relegation from the Championship. “I think everyone had forgotten about me so hopefully this will remind people what I can do,” he said.
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