Bale ready for Croke Park cauldron

Wales rising star Gareth Bale insists he will not be fazed playing in front of a passionate 80,000 Croke Park crowd tomorrow in the biggest game of his young life.

The Southampton full-back has come a very long way since a few hardy souls watched his Wales Under-21 debut as a 16-year-old in Port Talbot last May.

Now 10 months later, he believes he has the composure to march out to face the Republic of Ireland in a Euro 2008 qualifier knowing that boss John Toshack already considers him his first-choice left-back.

He became Wales’ youngest full international – at 16 years and 315 days old - on his debut as a substitute against Trinidad and Tobago just 11 days after that Under-21 outing against Cyprus.

Bale could have moved to the Premiership in the January transfer window but is now likely to join Manchester United or Tottenham in the summer.

Before then he has the emotion of Croke Park to handle but Cardiff-born Bale said: “I know I can cope with such a big game. I don’t really feel pressure.

“I will not be bothered about an 80,000 crowd. I just try to concentrate on my game and make sure nothing affects what happens on the pitch.

“I do not get nervous much now. I aim at doing the right things and hopefully that can help Wales to a good result. I’m grateful to the senior Wales players who all try to help and encourage me.

“And playing alongside Ryan Giggs is amazing. He has always been my favourite player. I have followed his career, watched the way he plays. I enjoy the way he runs at defenders and the goal he scored against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-final sticks in my memory.

“I haven’t thought about anything else but playing football, even when there was talk that Southampton might not keep me on as a kid. I worked as hard I could, and in the end I did get that scholarship.”

Now he is the country’s hottest property and he added: “The talk about me does not even register. I just work on my football and I am not bothered about all the things that are going on around me.

“I am happy enjoying my football at Southampton. All the talk can continue about me, it doesn’t bother me. I just want to play and enjoy myself.

“I have good mates around me, they are mostly in sixth form or college, so there is a lot of banter about what I am doing, which I enjoy and it keeps my feet on the ground.”

But the astonishing strides Bale has made in just 10 months has stunned the Wales camp.

That Port Talbot afternoon against Cyprus stopped many in their tracks. Here was a 16-year-old storming up and down the left flank and running the game.

The few hundred there knew he was special. So did the dozen or so scouts at the little south Wales ground.

They were there to watch Bale and they were not disappointed. He did confident media interviews that day and was just as confident this week at the Wales team’s Cardiff HQ ahead of the trip to Dublin.

Bale says: “I’m still a big mate of Theo’s (Walcott). We keep in touch and he invited me up to the Emirates last week to see the Champions League game with Eindhoven.

“But he has got himself injured and won’t play again this season, I understand. It is tough, physically, playing in the first-team at our age. And the Championship is a hard division with lots of games, so you must look after yourself.

“I’m just happy to be playing and trying my hardest every game. That’s how it has to be now until the end of the season if we (Southampton) want to get promotion. The gaffer (George Burley) has helped me, working on my weaknesses each day in training and I owe him a lot for the improvement I have made.”

Bale has already made a name for himself as a free-kick specialist and he said: “I practice them after every training session and I wouldn’t mind taking more for Wales.”

Bale, though, accepts that he may have to play second-fiddle to Giggs for a while in the free-kick stakes for his country.

He made his first start for Wales against Brazil in September, and Bale adds: “There was even a chance of a free-kick in that game, but Ryan took that. He pulled rank, but he’s Ryan Giggs, he can do what he wants!”