O’Neill would be right man at wrong time

Part of the problem with modern international football, and particularly mid-tier nations like Ireland, is that associations rarely get to do things to their own schedule any more. The club game has changed the dynamic.

Around five or six years ago, most pointedly, it would have been difficult to think of a manager better suited to the Ireland job than Martin O’Neill.

Aside from his nationality, the Derry native had proven himself absolutely adept at getting limited teams — from Wycombe to Celtic — to play at much higher levels. He was something of an alchemist. Even emotionally, a few of those rousing big European performances would have ideally suited Irish notions about the ‘Lansdowne roar’.