New kid on the block Robbie so eager for action

“Robbie! Robbie!”

It might be a familiar shout on the Irish training pitch but yesterday it was being directed at a brand new face.

As Robbie Keane (121 caps, 54 goals) was winging his way back to LA, Robbie Brady (0 caps, 0 goals) was dashing up the wing in the little ground shared by AFC Wimbledon and Kingstonians, as the 20-year-old from Baldoyle — who thought he’d be flying off himself on U21 duty this weekend — made the most of his experience of a first training session with the senior squad.

Now, the target is to make the most of his senior debut, with Giovanni Trapattoni confirming the highly-rated Manchester United youngster will start on the right side of midfield for Ireland against Oman at Craven Cottage tomorrow night.

“It’s been a good season for the 21s, I got a few goals and I think that’s what put my name about,” the new Robbie reflected.

“I was getting ready for the flight to Italy when they told me I’d got called up so they booked me a flight to here. I left at 5am Friday morning and got here about 11. I’ve been working hard all year, I’m delighted to have been called up to the squad and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to show what I’m about.”

What he’s about is attacking up the flanks, cuttinginside and scoring goals — yet, at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson began this season with the intention of converting him into left-back cover for Patrice Evra.

“That was a bit out of the blue, when I came back for pre-season,” said Brady. “In all the shape we were doing he had me playing left-back and he said he could see me doing a job there for him. I was happy enough to play anywhere — I actually played two games at left-back in pre-season — but I prefer attacking. And in the starting shape here (in London) I was attacking so I’m happy enough with that.”

Yet Brady also appreciates that his versatility will do him no harm at international level — especially under a manager like Trapattoni, who likes his wide men to defend almost as much as they attack.

“It would actually add a string to my bow,” the player observed. “I feel better for playing at left-back in pre-season, so hopefully it will help me defensively.”

Having had a successful loan spell at Hull last season, Brady has developed a real appetite forregular first team football.

“I spoke to him (Ferguson) early last month when he had me as cover for left-back and he wanted me to stay at United for this season,” the player explained. “But they’ve got cover at left-back now and I want to play as many games as I can, so maybe another loan move would be good. I’m sure another move to Hull is an option but I’ll see what the best move for me is. I enjoyed the season at Hull, it was my longest without injury.

“I think I’ve torn every muscle in both of my legs, and an ankle injury kept me out for eight months. But, touch wood, I’m over that now. I got 40-odd games at Hull, which is the most I’ve ever played in a season, and I really enjoyed it.”

As for those shouts of ‘Robbie’, the new version smiled. While the boy who was christened Robert is not sure if he was actually nicknamed after Ireland’s record goal-scorer, he does have vivid memories “from about 10 years ago of doing cartwheels around my sitting room after him scoring for Ireland”.

The full bow and arrow job? “Yeah, but in the sitting room, not on the pitch,” he said with a grin.

Meanwhile, John O’Shea says Ireland badly need to tighten up defensively after the concession of a set-piece goal in Kazakhstan. “The lad who scored was out chatting to the bloke who took the free kick and he basically ran in two yards and flicked it in,” said the Sunderland defender, shaking his head.

“We have got to be more alive to that. We are going to have to cut this problem out if lower teams like Kazakhstan can cause us problems from set pieces.”