Nomadic Ward finally settling in to life on the left

IT’S just over six months since Stephen Ward poured his heart out about the lack of interest shown in him by Giovanni Trapattoni and it seems like he got the Italian’s attention.

The former Bohemians player has now featured in six of the last seven Republic of Ireland fixtures — he sat out the 2-0 win in Macedonia — and is expected to start at left-back for tomorrow night’s tie in Andorra and Tuesday’s at home to Armenia.

In international terms, he is the very definition of an overnight sensation but, at 26 years of age and with eight years of football behind him with Bohs and Wolves, he has worked hard to earn a rapid elevation that seemed impossible a few years ago.

“Yeah I probably wouldn’t have believed them,” he admitted. “At the time, I wasn’t even in the squad so for me, when I wasn’t in the squad, it was probably about playing for my club. That was my sole thought.

“All I wanted to do was make sure I was fit and playing for my club and anything that happened after that was a bonus. So, coming into the squad, I didn’t expect to play as quick as I did and as much as I have.”

At 26 and with a number of seasons in the Premier League behind him, he is no babe in the woods but his experience at left-back is limited, having spent his days in Ireland as a striker before gravitating back down the park since his time in England.

He is still called into to firefight elsewhere by Mick McCarthy and has already played up front just behind Steven Fletcher this season.

Though happy to help out when needs be, it seems he has had enough of the nomadic lifestyle.

“I’ve had a word with the gaffer and I said to him that international-wise and for the club, I’d like left-back to be my preference, although if there’s a time when he wants me for whatever reason to play somewhere else, then the teams comes first.

“I think he’s taken that into account. Most other pre-seasons I’ve probably played five or six other positions to get minutes under my belt but this time I’ve predominantly played left-back which has definitely helped me coming into the start of the season.”

That can only be good for Ireland, especially now that Kevin Kilbane is finally succumbing to Father Time and the inevitable wear and tear that comes with such a long career but there were signs in Moscow last month that Ward’s education is far from over.

All too often, he was dragged infield towards his central defenders by the Russians’ clever movement but this happened to be the night that Richard Dunne produced the type of defensive display that had even Paul McGrath cooing with praise.

“Yeah, it was outstanding,” Ward said of Dunne. “It was probably one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from a centre-half or playing alongside someone. To have someone like that in the squad and to lead us like he did, it’s massive for us.

“It’s a loss that he’s going to be missing for the first game but he’s in a position that it’s not a two-game ban and he’ll be involved in Tuesday’s game.”

Dunne could hardly have chosen a better game to sit out. Forget the talk of altitude and the bumpy pitch, Ireland don’t deserve to qualify if they can’t take the three points against Andorra although a certain level of caution is no bad thing.

Like all footballers, Ward has learned to tread carefully around minnows.

During his time with Bohemians, the Phibsboro club were taken to a replay by Wayside Celtic (they won 2-1) in the 2005 FAI Cup and they had just two goals to spare on Waterford Crystal in the same competition in 2006.

With Wolves, they have been held to a stalemate by Doncaster Rovers in the FA Cup and required an 88th minute goal from Neil Collins to save their blushes and earn a 2-1 win against Cambridge United in the third round in his second season at Molineux.

“It’s a different mentality. Those were cup games but this is something different, a massive game and having such a favourites tag will brings it’s own pressures.”