Forde rewarded after long journey

Not too long ago David Forde was wondering whether this was really for him.

It was the start of 2005 and, disillusioned with the game, he was seriously considering change. At St Michael’s, the GAA club he played for growing up in Galway, there was an opportunity to slot in at midfield. He had spent the previous year at Galway United but as their campaign drew to a close and the winter months offered time to ponder, he questioned his motivation.

Then the call came from Stephen Kenny at Derry City. All of a sudden the drive returned and two years later Forde moved to Cardiff City, before joining Millwall. Tonight, at 33, he will make his competitive debut for Ireland.

It has been an atypical ascension up the ranks for the new man between the sticks, but one he has no regrets over.

“I wouldn’t change the way I’ve gone about things,” he says. “At the end of the day, when I look back on my career, the way I’ve gone and done it is very pleasing and satisfying. It came to a stage where it was either GAA or soccer. I was very close to it, I was a bit disillusioned with football at the time and I had a great affinity with GAA.”

As for Kenny, Forde noted: “He’s one of a few people in my career who was a big factor and a big help. He was a massive part of it when I was looking at going down the GAA route, all of a sudden he got me back into the game and got me motivated.

“There’s a satisfaction there when you know that after all the hard work there is a fantastic reward of representing your country in a World Cup qualifier. Down the years it’s what I always wanted and now I’ve finally got a chance to do it.”

Sometimes, Forde proves, the long road is the right one. While he spent a short spell at West Ham United aged 22, left very much in the shadow by one of his goalkeeping idols David James, he was back in Ireland and on loan at Derry within a year.

Not that he would have baulked at the offer of a YTS in his teens of course; far from it. But, to continue the allegory of late development, he didn’t bloom along with the rest of his team-mates and several scouts, while impressed by his ability, weren’t willing to take a gamble because he was too short.

“I’ve a lot of friends that went over,” he adds. “Ability wise it was always there but what let me down was my height and my size. I was always too small, that’s what people were telling me but then I woke up one morning and all of a sudden I was six-foot-two.

“I’ve always been a late developer. Everything that has happened to me has come a bit later, it seems to be following a bit of a trend.”

As for what’s needed tonight, he believes a point would be positive but the main thing is that, come Tuesday night after the Austria game, Ireland are still in the race for Brazil.

“A point away from home is massive, three points going into Tuesday would be better again. We could come away with three points Friday and get nothing on Tuesday. If we can come out of it unbeaten that would help our confidence. At the end of these games we need to be still in the hunt and be in a position to challenge and finish the campaign.”