Meyler on march again

The initial emergence was, after all, undermined by injury. David Meyler would only make 25 Premier League appearances in four-and-a-half years at Sunderland.

Last November he opted to take a step back. He joined Championship side Hull City and his old mentor Steve Bruce on loan. Two months later he and fellow Irishman Robbie Brady signed permanent deals with the Tigers.

Fast forward four months and by 3pm today both could again be Premier League footballers.

Victory for Hull at home to Championship champions Cardiff City will secure promotion and another shot at the big time for Meyler. A draw or defeat would allow Watford, who trail Hull by a point and host Leeds, the chance to leapfrog the Tigers and snatch second place.

The stakes are huge and the 23-year-old admits, at club level at least, today is the biggest game of his career.

“It probably would be for most of us. One win and you’re into the Premier League: it doesn’t get much bigger than that. These are the games you want to play in,” he said.

Cardiff may have nothing other than pride to play for but Meyler expects nothing easy.

“They’re the champions and they’ll want to show why they are the champions..

“We’re going to make sure we’re at it this time. We slipped up in the last few games and let a lot of people down. We want to put that right and make sure we’re bang at it.”

Ah yes, those slip-ups. With the line is sight Hull have stumbled of late, failing to score in their last three games and taking just a point from nine. Perhaps surprisingly, Meyler is not unduly perturbed.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it to be honest. We’ve created a lot of chances. We were just unfortunate that they haven’t gone the right side of the post.”

But what if you have to settle for the play-offs?

“I’m not going playing in the play-offs. We’re not playing in the play-offs. We’re going out to win Saturday.”

Meyler’s bullishness and sense of destiny is infectious. He never doubted Bruce’s ability to get Hull to this point.

“That’s the main reason why I came here. I sat down with Steve Bruce and he said, ‘Look, I’m here to take this club to the Premier League and that’s what I’m doing’. It didn’t take much more than that [to convince me].

“I worked with him at Sunderland and he was a terrific help to me there. I had six or seven clubs I could have gone to and when I knew the manager wanted me there wasn’t much doubt that I would come to Hull.

“It’s turned out to be the right decision. One more win and it will be a brilliant choice.”

The Irish contingent helped the settling in process. Besides Brady, there’s Paul McShane and Stephen Quinn.

“They’re terrific lads,” Meyler says. “They’re three of the nicest lads you’ll ever meet. They’re typical Irish lads, they’re always laughing and joking and making people feel very welcome. They’re fabulous players as well, the type of players you want to be playing with.”

Besides the prospect of promotion, Meyler has relished the simple pleasure of playing regularly.

The midfielder made 28 appearances for Hull this season and his senior international debut in September’s 4-1 friendly win over Oman.

“I was very unfortunate with the injuries, it was stop-start and I could never get a run of games and I got that opportunity when I came to Hull and it’s been brilliant. I was fortunate enough that I got three caps for Ireland this season as well so it’s been terrific. I’m delighted I made the decision to come here.”

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, though. Meyler’s familiarity with yellow cards — he’s picked up 10 this season — has upset his grandmother.

“I picked up a few sloppy yellow cards that I shouldn’t have. She sends me a few texts saying, ‘Enough with the yellow cards, no more tackling’.”

He’ll hope to avoid the wrath of the referee and, by extension, his grandmother today, but whatever happens he won’t be taking to Twitter.

“I couldn’t be bothered with Twitter any more. I was getting too much stick for using it too much so I got rid of it. I’m gone off it a month. I just had enough of it.”

His time as a Championship player could come to a similarly abrupt end today.

Midfielder offers support to Ireland boss

David Meyler thinks some of the criticism Giovanni Trapattoni gets is “ludicrous” and believes the Italian can have the last laugh by leading the Republic of Ireland to next year’s World Cup.

Meyler said: “You can’t knock the manager. He’s a terrific manager. Look what he’s done for the game. Some people who give him stick have never played the game so they don’t understand it. It’s ludicrous.

“A manager of his calibre doesn’t look at things like that [criticism].

He just focuses on the game, on training, on making sure we’re ready and prepared for the next match.”

The Hull midfielder is convinced Ireland can make it to Brazil, sighting Bayern Munich’s stunning Champions League mauling of Barcelona as evidence that anything can happen.

“Of course we can get to the World Cup. Look at the Champions League. Who would have thought that Bayern Munich would have beaten Barcelona over two legs 7-0 on aggregate? You can’t predict football.”