Callum O’Dowda: I didn't deserve to go to Euro 2016 - but I'm ready to make step up now

'I don’t think I deserved to go anyway as the players that got the squad there deserved to go, but I hope we can get there again'

Republic of Ireland midfielder Callum O’Dowda is desperate to reach the Euro 2020 finals. Picture: Simon Cooper/PA

Callum O'Dowda has declared himself to be fully fit and ready to help take the Republic of Ireland one step closer to a major finals after missing out on a spot at Euro 2016.

The Bristol City winger started in Stephen Kenny's first two games in charge of the men's senior team, against Bulgaria and Finland, last month but suffered an abductor injury in the latter and hasn't played for his club since.

O'Dowda had experienced the issue before and knew what was coming. Rehab has long been done, he has banked over a week of full training now, and he made it as far as the bench at the weekend although he wasn't used in the 2-1 defeat of Nottingham Forest.

Now 25, he has been a part of Ireland senior squads for over four years but his stock rose appreciably when Kenny used him on the right of a front three in Sofia and again at the Aviva Stadium days later and he is a serious option for Thursday's Euro 2020 playoff semi-final away to Slovakia.

“For pre-season I was able to do 90 minutes relatively quickly,” he said prior to the team's departure for Bratislava this afternoon. “I don't think I've lost too much fitness over the past couple of weeks or so that I've been off injured.

“I've obviously maintained my fitness levels and I was out on the pitches quite early and was able to do a lot of straight line running. So it's different for different people, but I have sometimes played 90 minutes on the back end of having a two or three week spell off.”

O'Dowda has been on the fringes of big Irish occasions before.

He was on the bench when James McClean scored the only goal in a famous win against Wales in Cardiff three years ago, he played in the 0-0 draw away to Denmark in the subsequent World Cup play-off first leg and this having already made a late burst for the squad that went to France the summer before.

His displays with Oxford United and the Ireland U21s earned him a first call-up to the seniors by Martin O'Neill that May but he was cut from the squad prior to the tournament despite a promising debut as a sub against Belarus at Turner's Cross.

"I had a chance obviously of going to the Euros four years ago with the squad and, I tell you what, the feeling around the squad then, it was incredible. I came into the set-up and everyone was so happy, everyone was confident.

“It was just going into a (Euro) campaign and, honestly, I wish I was on the plane, but I don't think I deserved it because the squad deserved to go. I just wish that we could get there again and for me, personally, I'd love to go.” 

It's no surprise that O'Dowda should speak highly of Kenny given the trust the latter has placed in him so far, but his admiration for the Irish manager goes beyond mere self-interest and encompasses a minute attention to detail and man management skills.

If it isn't the phone call he got from Kenny when Lee Johnson was sacked at Bristol in July then it has been the analysis meetings, gym-loading programmes and the subtle reminders from the new gaffer that they are good players who can perform at this sort of level.

Little is left to chance in terms of setpieces and structures. There have been Zoom calls with individual players too and yet Kenny is not programming robots. O'Dowda reckons he hasn't experienced a setup this comprehensive or player-focused before.

“I know it's crazy to think - in terms of camp we haven't even had a couple of weeks together in total - but I feel like I've worked under him for longer than that. So it's something I've definitely noticed, which is what every player wants.”

If there is a trick to all this then it is the ability to draw a line. As O'Dowda pointed out, there is a scientific research that shows too much information can be counter-productive. Better to zero in on a handful of pointers than produce endless dossiers for digestion.

That's all the more vital here and now with time so limited and training sessions squeezed into a schedule compromised by club games, flights, media duties, Covid regulations and a myriad of other factors before kick-off on Thursday evening.

It will be a game shorn of what should have been a fevered atmosphere.

There will be no raucous home crowd to quieten, no hardy band of Irish fans roaring their support in one small pocket of the stadium, but O'Dowda understands what a win this week would mean.

“Not having the fans in the stadium... I know it’s so difficult in terms of what is going on in the world. It’s so tough, we always need to remind ourselves. When you’re in the stadium, it doesn’t feel the same at all when in the Aviva.

“The game against Wales when Jimmy McClean scored the goal, honestly, it was crazy. It’s so hard to replicate that because the fans have so much importance. They are the 12th man to us. The lads know how important this is, for the country it is important.”