‘I have absolutely no doubt that next summer we will be in Poland and Ukraine’

DARREN O’DEA played no part in last Friday’s bore draw with Slovakia but the defender gave a scintillating performance over the weekend when he faced a media corps that had just lambasted Giovanni Trapattoni and his team.

The Dubliner shrugged off criticism of the Republic of Ireland’s performance and its style, dismissed concerns about the 4-4-2 formation and declared unequivocally that the Republic of Ireland will be competing at Euro 2012 next summer.

It was an impressive display of confidence given events at the Aviva Stadium and the audience with which he was faced and one that struck a bullish note ahead of tomorrow’s task at the Luzhniki Stadium, even if it was difficult to share such optimism.

Only a handful of sides have departed Moscow with three points down the years but O’Dea sat on the bench for Celtic two years ago when they turned around a 1-0 home defeat with a 2-0 win away to Dinamo Moscow in the Champions League qualifiers.

That was the Glasgow side’s first win on the road in Europe in 23 attempts and, lest it be forgotten, Ireland’s fortunes have been more profitable away from Dublin of late even if the setting for this latest haunt is likely to be one of the more intimidating.

“I lived in an atmosphere,” said O’Dea dismissively. “I am well used to intimidating atmospheres. You get that going into a restaurant in Glasgow. It is no problem, I enjoyed it. Every player needs an intimidating atmosphere, everyone against you. Let’s go try and shut them up.”

With Sean St Ledger suspended and John O’Shea declared unfit to travel, O’Dea will start alongside Richard Dunne at the heart of defence while one of Kevin Foley and Stephen Kelly await the nod at right-back.

Not the best of scenarios ahead of a trip of such magnitide but O’Dea spoke like a man unburdened by self-doubt, having faced AC Milan, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spartak Moscow and Villareal in Glasgow.

True, he has become more accustomed to visiting places like Crewe, Barnsley, Scunthorpe and Barnsley in the past two seasons with loan stints at Reading and Leeds but he has risen up the ranks at international level.

Trapattoni has used the 24-year old in eight of his last ten fixtures. He has started in six of them, including the two competitive wins against Macedonia and the defeat of Italy in Liege, and musical chairs isn’t an unfamiliar concept for this Ireland defence.

The Republic have not started with the same back four in any of the last half-dozen fixtures during which time they have still been able to rack up a team record six clean sheets but O’Dea concedes improvements are needed everywhere after Friday.

Passing, finishing and even some of the defending were lobbed into the ‘must do better’ box by the Home Farm graduate but he insisted that “nothing went majorly wrong” against the Slovakians and that the adherence to 4-4-2 was not a weight around their necks.

“I played with Celtic for years,” he explained, “and under Gordon Strachan we’d play four in midfield and come up against five, maybe not players of the same quality, but you can work around it.

“Your wingers tuck in. We have Aiden who is a winger but he’s right-footed playing on the left and Duffer who is left-footed playing on the right. That can sometimes help you out. If everything goes right then systems are brilliant. If they go wrong then systems get looked at.”

Ireland haven’t beaten a side ranked higher than them in ten years and it is a tall order to expect them to get the better of a Russian side with such a formidable home record and one that made Trapattoni’s men look like novices in Dublin last October.

Slovakia didn’t come close to matching the pretty patterns and devastating overlaps that produced such profits for Dick Advocaat’s side but they still outshone a pedestrian home side that offered nothing in the way of invention or entertainment.

“Truthfully, we’re not really here to entertain,” said O’Dea. “We might say differently but we’re not. If we qualify everyone will be happy. There’ll not be one person saying ‘well I’m not happy with the quality of football’. They’ll be supporting the team like they always have.”

The main question right now is will supporters be afforded the opportunity to take their banners and flags to the continent next summer and follow an Irish team in the finals of a major international tournament for the first time in ten years.

“We are still very much alive and there is not one bit of doubt in the squad that we can go over there and get a good result and still qualify. I still have absolutely no doubt that next summer we will be in Poland and Ukraine.”