Hendrick leading by example

IT WASN’T just the blonde hair that had Derby County fans comparing Ireland’s U19 regular Jeff Hendrick to Robbie Savage last season.

Hendrick is the only outfield player in the Ireland squad to have started all seven of Paul Doolin’s competitive matches to date, most recently the 2-1 victory over Greece in their Group A opener on Wednesday.

The teen admits the European Championships campaign in Romania, which continue against the Czech Republic today, is the perfect platform to convince Nigel Clough he’s ready to fill the midfield void vacated by the retired Savage. Four substitute appearances in Derby’s last Championship campaign, all as replacements for Savage, offered a glimpse of Hendrick’s qualities and Clough expects more involvement by the Dubliner this coming term.

“The manager wished me luck before joining up with the Ireland squad for these finals,” said the 19-year-old.

“I’m hoping to kick on this season and give him (Clough) a bit of a headache.

“I went back into pre-season ten days early to work with the fitness coach and I feel it has benefited me.

“Robbie (Savage) was a loud character and would hammer people in training.

“But I found him sound and my game developed a lot by learning from him.

“The highlight of my career came when we played Bristol City in our last game of the season. My parents came over to watch me and, when I replaced Robbie on his last home game before retiring, he got a massive ovation from the crowd.”

Despite carrying a booking from the Greece fixture into the game, Doolin will start Hendrick today for the eighth consecutive game and places much onus on him against a Czech side that opened their campaign on Wednesday by beating host nation Romania 3-1. A win today though would secure Ireland a place in Friday’s semi-final.

But Doolin has cautioned his players against allowing the complacency.

Doolin said: “We’ve got a good start, but we don’t want to give any air of being cocky. One game can change everything.You can lose a game and still qualify in this tournament. Also, if you win a game it doesn’t mean you are through. The main thing is that we enjoyed the victory, then trained and got back thinking about facing a very good Czech side.”

With no major injury concerns, Doolin may keep faith with the starting line-up that served him so well against Greece.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (probable): McCarey (Wolves); Doherty (Wolves), Egan (Sunderland), O’Connor (Blackburn Rovers), Williams (Aston Villa); Murray (Watford), Carruthers (Aston Villa), O’Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers), Hendrick (Derby County), Forde (Wolves); Murphy (Bray Wanderers).