Rejuvenated Brady bidding to seize opportunity

Amidst all the talk about Shay Given’s return and Mark Noble’s potential arrival, the presence of Hull City’s Robbie Brady at training in Malahide all week has slipped under the radar.

For so long acknowledged as a rare Irish player with genuine creative abilities, the 22-year-old Dublin native slipped out of the spotlight last season due to a combination of groin and hip problems that required surgery.

The cost was prohibitive for the youngster. The bones of half a season all but wiped out. He trained two days before the FA Cup final against Arsenal but just wasn’t quite fit enough to earn a place in the squad for the big day.

It was much of the same at international level.

Nine months and seven games into Martin O’Neill’s tenure we may be, but Brady hasn’t played a minute. His one involvement was as an injured onlooker that very first week last November when the team played Latvia and Poland.

He knows he has to make up for lost time.

“I hope so. I’ve had too much time off. I never wanted to miss one day, never mind the months I did, so I’m just excited and looking forward to it. I’m delighted to be back in and I can’t wait to get going. The lads have had more time with (O’Neill). They have played and shown him what they can do. I’ve got a week to show what I can do myself and hopefully I’ll get a start against Georgia on Sunday.”

O’Neill was brief and to the point when asked about Brady on Monday, accepting that he had shown some form in Hull’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Europa League campaign but adding that he hasn’t played much league football of late.

Yet, the omens are positive.

The media in Hull singled out Brady’s form, and his two goals against KSC Lokeren in the home leg, as the brightest spot to emerge from the aggregate defeat, and he impressed when coming off the bench in the loss to Aston Villa on Sunday.

O’Neill kept in touch during Brady’s enforced absences, by all accounts, and Brady declared himself to be more or less fully fit ahead of tonight’s friendly against Oman at the Aviva and the weekend’s crucial game in Tbilisi.

Form Brady, Oman bring with them memories of happy times with his country. The happiest. It was this month two years ago when Brady made his full debut after a sterling stint with the U21s, scoring in a 4-1 win at Craven Cottage in London.

A similar morale-booster, for player and panel, would be timely.

“It will just get us in together,” Brady said of the tee-up. “There’s a few new lads and we’re all just trying to gel. It will be good to get the legs going again. We played them (in 2012). They’re a good side. It will be a good game. We’re just looking forward to getting the work into our legs and getting the squad gelled together for the important one at the weekend.”

His confidence in his own ability is apparent though well sheltered behind a genuinely humble and approachable manner, as was evident when he spoke about making the slimmed-down squad of 27 and featuring against Georgia.

Brady offers the option of a shift down the wing or a more central posting and, for all the canvassing that has been done for Wes Hoolahan and Andy Reid in the past, it is worth remembering that both are 10 years his senior.

He himself doesn’t express a preference for any particular role but the need for someone to excite and energise this Ireland team and, just as crucially, its supporters, is obvious as the start of another qualifying campaign approaches.

What say you, Robbie?

“I’ll see how it goes and give it my best,” he laughed. “I’ll give you a shout and see if it is good enough.”