Friendlies take on own meaning
You will often here people casually dismiss games like this as “meaningless friendlies” but I would argue that friendlies are very much what you make of them and how seriously — individually as a player and collectively as a team — you take them.
And, of course, if such a game represents your first appearance for your country or even a chance for an emerging player to really stake a claim to a place in the first 11, then they could hardly be more meaningful. I know this well from personal experience because four years ago this month I made my Irish debut on a rainy night at Croke Park in a friendly against Poland.
The previous month, Giovanni Trapattoni had called me into the squad for a B game against a Nottingham Forest XI at Dalymount Park. After joining Blackburn Rovers a few months earlier I felt I had increased my chances of getting recognition at international level and so this B international could hardly have come at a better time. We won the game 2-0 — with goals from Caleb Folan and Andy Keogh — and thankfully, in the 55 minutes I was on the pitch before being replaced by Darren Potter, I impressed the manager enough to be called into the squad the following month for the friendly against Poland.
Not many players make their debuts at the age of 28 and so I genuinely felt this was a case of now or never. The build-up to the game was encouraging. I felt very much at home in the squad from the off since I knew quite a few of the players and the manager had also given an indication in the media that I would get a chance to play some part. I couldn’t wait.
The Croke Park pitch, as it happened, was not new to me. I’d actually played on it three times before, the last time before pulling on the green shirt all those years later as a member of my Ardscoil Ris school team in the Leinster U14 hurling final. I remember that, after winning the game and heading to McDonald’s for a celebratory meal, I departed the following day to Newcastle United with a swollen knee for a week’s trial. Needless to say I didn’t tell Newcastle how I hurt my knee!
Fast-forward to 2008, and obviously for me the thought of making my Irish debut was an absolute dream. Having all my family and friends there — people who had supported me throughout my career — made me immensely proud. To be honest, the occasion was so huge for me that I couldn’t tell you how long I was on the pitch for, who I came on for, or what tactical information Alan Kelly was trying to give me before I came on, but I certainly remember the rush of adrenaline I got when I ran on to the pitch to fulfil my boyhood dream.
In fact, the record shows that we lost the game 2-3 and that I came on in the 73rd minute as a sub for Darron Gibson. Poland led 2-0 at that stage but I was in the thick of the action for what turned out to be a frantic finish. Stephen Hunt scored from the spot to make it 1-2 in the 87th minute, Poland scored again in the 88th, and then, in extra time I managed to make it an even more memorable evening for myself by scoring my first goal at senior level for my country.
I’ve gone on to play for Ireland in a good many more “meaningful” games since then but a framed picture from that friendly is a memento I still treasure — you can only make your debut once in the green shirt.
After the match I met up with all my family outside the ground and walked the mile or so to Cusacks on the North Strand, a part of the city where a lot of my family are from and where we would often meet up before Dublin matches. We celebrated with a couple of pints and listened to a lot of the locals taking credit for where I had got to in my career.
On that note, I have to say I will always remember the people who supported me and followed me even when I was plying my trade in the lower leagues. When MK Dons got to the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 2008 I had to book a 50-seater bus just for my own family and friends to travel to Wembley from Milton Keynes, and a lot of those were made up of people from Cusacks.
We won that game against Grimsby 2-0 and, as Dons skipper, I got to lift the cup. Just months later, I was playing in the Premier League and making my Irish debut. For professional footballers, games might vary in their immediate importance but, sometimes it’s not until you’re able to look back, that you can see the true significance of any given 90 minutes.
So just try telling someone like Wes Hoolahan that Wednesday’s friendly doesn’t matter.
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