O’Dea baffled as pal Gibson opts out

Darren O’Dea admits to being close to Darron Gibson but still can’t understand his pal’s self-imposed international exile.

Both born in the same year, 1987, O’Dea was part of the Ireland U17 squad in 2003 that Derry man Gibson joined up with for the first time, after breaking new ground by switching cross-border.

They’ve developed a close bond since, progressing through the underage ranks together and into the senior squad under Steve Staunton in 2007.

It was their relationship with Giovanni Trapattoni which differed, however, as O’Dea has earned all but one of his 15 caps in the past 18 months.

Neither of them were satisfied with not playing a minute at Euro 2012, yet it was Gibson who decided to go nuclear in his reaction. An injury-enforced absence of Richard Dunne for tomorrow’s World Cup qualification opener in Kazakhstan on Friday means O’Dea will likely be trusted by Trap again to deputise in central defence. Had Gibson not opted out this week, he too may have featured as a straight replacement for the suspended Keith Andrews in midfield.

“I wouldn’t have done it,” stressed the Toronto FC recruit.

“I’m quite close to Gibbo, to be fair, and I knew he was quite frustrated and would probably need time to get over it [the Euros].

“He’s playing every week in the Premier League [for Everton] and maybe feels he should be playing more here.

“I’ve been in many squads before and not played. That can be demoralising at times, travelling away — especially if you have family. It’s his decision. He knows what he’s doing — well hopefully he does anyway.”

O’Dea himself had some tough choices to contend with in recent months when Celtic released him, eventually choosing to uproot his wife Melissa and 20-month-old daughter Lucia to Canada.

It’s a decision he feels vindicated by already, even though he eventually sees himself returning to familiar territory.

“I nearly went out to the Ukraine but it was purely to do with money and I’ve always sworn I wouldn’t do it and I didn’t, in the end,” he said.

“It was a team called Tavriya, who are managed by Oleg Luzhny. A Russian club was an option too but Aiden McGeady didn’t recommend this particular place, so I settled on Toronto.

“I checked in with the Irish manager too and he was delighted with the move so that was important.”