Egan: Doolin right to axe big names

AS IRELAND’S defeated U19 European Championship semi-finalists touched down in Ireland in the early hours of Sunday morning, captain John Egan backed the original decision of manager Paul Doolin to leave some big names out for the showpiece in Romania.

Manchester United duo Robbie Brady and Seán McGinty, along with Everton’s first-teamer Shane Duffy, were absent from the Irish squad which progressed from their group at the finals only to lose 5-0 against Spain in Friday’s semi-final. Although Brady, currently on loan at Hull City, began the campaign as captain and still ended as the team’s top scorer over the UEFA series, the winger was dropped for the Championships.

That’s because Doolin took exception to Brady’s failure to return his phone-calls after Manchester United withdrew him from the elite qualifiers in May. Sunderland defender Egan replaced Brady as captain for those qualifiers and kept the armband for the finals.

Doolin remained loyal to the players which topped that group which included Italy when it came to his selection for the eight-nation finals.

Egan felt the manager’s stance was vindicated by the performance of the team at the finals.

“No disrespect to players not in the squad, but the squad Paul (Doolin) picked was right for the tournament. It showed as we got to the last four. How many teams can say they did that?” said the 18-year-old.

“We don’t care about anybody who wasn’t in the squad. If you’re not in squad, you don’t play, and you don’t mean anything to the team. I wasn’t — and I don’t think anyone else was — focusing on other players who weren’t there.

“I think playing for your country is the biggest honour you can get. Clubs pay the bills but playing for is country something you do for yourself, family and everyone in the country. When you pull on that green jersey, you’re doing it for everyone that lives in Ireland and everyone you’ve ever known.”

He added: “It’s a big thing; you have to be proud of where you’re from. That’s getting taken out of it a bit these days. There’s money and whatnot in football and players might think they’re too good for this and that. But playing for your country is the biggest honour you can have.”

Having seen first-hand the Spanish machine in action, Egan reckons the reigning World and European champions have the depth of talent to continue dominating at levels for years to come.

“They don’t lose the ball; they make the pitch feel like 6 acres of land. They work off the ball so hard for each other. There is a way to stop it, like with everything, but they were the best team I’ve ever played against.

“If they keep producing players like that, they might as well close down the European Championship and World Cup because they’ll be winning everything .”

Spain play the Czech Republic in tonight’s final in Chiajna Stadium (6pm, Irish time).