Whelan reeling in the years to find inspiration

TEN years to the day and Glenn Whelan can tell you where he watched it, who else was there and what he was wearing. He’s not alone.

Over 50,000 people will never forget the electric pulse that gripped Lansdowne Road the day Mick McCarthy’s side defeated the Dutch. Twice that number saw it on a big screen in Slane before U2 took to the stage and millions more took it in from their living rooms.

Whelan? He was one of half a dozen Irish apprentices trying to cut it with Manchester City at the time. Four of them congregated in a small bedroom that Saturday afternoon to watch Roy Keane cut through Marc Overmars and Jason McAteer claim the winner.

“There was myself, Willo Flood, Stephen Elliott and Stephen Paisley all in the same digs at the time,” said the Stoke City midfielder.

“We had our jerseys on and we had our scarves going and we were singing when McAteer put the ball in the net.”

It’s sometimes forgotten but that 1-0 win didn’t secure qualification but what it did do was all but guarantee Ireland a place in the World Cup play-offs, which turned out to be Asian conference representative Iran.

A similar theme runs through tomorrow’s meeting with Slovakia — who lost on the same stretch of Dublin suburbia four years ago in another World Cup qualifier — a rare home success against high-quality opposition. The years since that Holland game have seen Ireland draw with a few of the big boys and lose to more and Whelan admits the national team is long overdue a major result on our own soil at such a delicate stage in a major qualifying campaign.

“Definitely,” he agreed. “People are talking about the two games [Slovakia and Russia] but the only thing we are looking to is the Slovakia game on Friday. That’s the big one. It’s not two big games, it’s a massive game first.

“The results aren’t really something we have looked at, home being different to away. I don’t know if it is because we have a little bit more pressure here but you go into every game trying to win and get three points and we will be trying to do that.”

Whelan’s tales of cheering on the Boys in Green as a teenage wannabe are no mere back-patting PR exercise. Playing for his country has hurt his club career in the past in an era when players tend to use international football to help with the day job.

“At times I have come away and played and then got back and not been in the team but it is what the manager thinks is best at the time. It is obviously disappointing and you do disagree with his decisions but he is doing it for a reason and you just have to get on with it.”

For now, things are ticking along nicely at the Britannia Stadium. Stoke have already played five times this season thanks to their Europa League commitments and the Dubliner has clocked in for all 450 minutes.

There was a time there when he appeared to be edging towards the exit but he won back a starting spot late last season but there was no sign of his name flashing across the screen on Sky Sports News screen late last night as the transfer window closed.

There has, in fact, been whispers of a new contract on the table, the details of which he preferred not to go into this week. For now, the focus is on Slovakia and making up for the two points left behind after the draw in Zilina last October.

“Being disappointed that we didn’t get three points shows how well we did out there but it’s just about the game at home now and doing as well as we can. Getting the three points, that’s all that matters really and that will push us on to top this group if we can.”