Stokes puts in the hard yards

Not too long ago, Anthony Stokes was seen to be a rebel without a cause, determined to flush his talent away. Last night, a new man emerged and showed he is ready to fulfil his potential.

It wasn’t that the Celtic striker bagged a hat-trick, tucked the match ball under his arm, proved Giovanni Trapattoni wrong, and left Robbie Keane sweating over his international future. Instead, he did the simple things well and that was what was required.

Chasing down German defenders, the 25-year-old put pressure on Ireland’s hosts at the right times and pushed them back a few yards at a time. And when he got the ball, Stokes tried to use it in a way that didn’t simply give it back to the three-time world champions.

Okay, it didn’t work every time and his attempted pass to Kevin Doyle on 12 minutes eventually led to Sami Khedira opening the scoring, but it was the correct call to make. Too many times in the recent past Irish strikers have simply kicked for the corner and hoped for the best.

Stokes is different, he is someone who wants to keep the play moving and drops into areas where he can make that happen. Keane, who was wrapped up in an oversized coat on the bench, will have watched his team-mate and seen a little of his younger self in him.

This was a rare opportunity for Stokes — just his fifth cap and first involvement in a competitive game — and he will have felt that he could have contributed a lot more. Although a quick glance at the possession stats would have reminded him how little of the ball Ireland actually had.

Rather than pout, Stokes kept on going. If Trapattoni was watching on TV from Milan, he would have not recognised the player as the one who he publicly criticised for failing to turn up to the Carling Nations Cup two years ago.

Stokes has grown up since and is now a key player for Celtic with five goals in 14 games this season. He should have hit the target before half-time last night, but he flash a shot wide after the interval and forced Manuel Neuer into two saves late on.

Apart from maturing off the pitch, Stokes has finally realised that being a goalscorer is simply not enough in the modern game as the team must always come first.

With Germany looking to find their rhythm in the opening exchanges, Stokes got his body in front of Khedira and earned a free-kick. It was the type of trick Keane has been doing for years and suggested that he is now a contender for that lone position up front.