Late to the party, Ireland new boy Harvey Vale aiming for instant impact
Harvey Vale during a Republic of Ireland men's training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
THE way Harvey Vale tells it, you might think his journey into the Republic of Ireland squad had shades of the day Jack Charlton asked John Aldridge to come on board and got Ray Houghton into the bargain.
That was 1986, just weeks after Big Jack had taken on the job. Aldridge had scored twice for Oxford United in a 2-2 first-leg Milk Cup semi-final draw against Aston Villa in Birmingham when Charlton made his approach in the player’s lounge.
Aldridge didn’t need asking twice. Then he pointed to Houghton, who was chatting to Dave Langan, and revealed that the Scot’s dad was from Donegal.
So the story goes. Did Charlton already know? Probably, but it still makes for a cracking yarn.
Almost 40 years passed by the time Heimir Hallgrimsson paid a visit to Queens Park Rangers to check in on Dundalk’s Jimmy Dunne. Vale’s take when speaking to the club’s in-house media was that his clubmate happened to point Hallgrimsson in his direction.
“It was one of the first questions he asked me when I joined QPR,” Vale said of Dunne in Dublin a few days later. “‘Have you got any Irish in ya?’ So, yeah, I have been talking to him about it and he has been talking to me about it.”
In truth, this isn’t some snap decision by Vale or by Ireland. Aldridge and Houghton were facing Wales within weeks. Conversations with Hallgrimsson spanned at least a year before Vale’s call-up. Eligible via a grandfather from Kerry, his citizenship and passport had already been sorted during the pandemic.
Captain of the England U19 team that won the Euros in 2022, Vale also had contact in the past with Mark O’Toole of the FAI. Glenn Whelan is said to have pushed a green agenda while the pair were teammates at Bristol City.
Vale’s stint at Ashton Gate followed an earlier loan move to Hull City while still on the books at Chelsea where he had made a handful of senior appearances. A permanent switch to Loftus Road followed in February of last year.
Still, it was put bluntly to him this week that his international ambitions having won those Euros four years ago would have been to see if he was good enough to progress all the way up the pyramid with his country of birth.
“It wasn't about being good enough or anything like that. I was in the set-up, I was sort of playing every game. It was during Covid and there was a year during Covid when international football fully stopped.
“I got the citizenship and everything and then when we come out of that and I got to the Championship. It just felt like it was the right time. I'm super-connected to Ireland and I feel like it was a privilege to play for them.”
Vale’s emergence at this late stage of the World Cup qualifying cycle, and the inclusion of the uncapped Bosun Lawal who is being tipped for a significant role in the playoff against Czechia here on Thursday, isn’t unique.
Bringing players into a squad when a side is within touching distance of a major tournament can be a tricky proposition. It would only be human for players who have done so many of the hard yards to wrestle with it.
Seven players have made Irish Euro or World Cup squads in the past having made senior debuts that same year. It started with John Sheridan in Euro ‘88 and continued up to the same championships in 2012 when a young and raw James McClean got an invite.
Bernie Slaven and Alan McLoughlin managed it in 1990, and the most obvious example of it – and of the impact fresh blood can have – was at USA ’94 when Charlton ushered in the three amigos of Gary Kelly, Phil Babb and Jason McAteer.
The absence of Josh Cullen from the centre of Ireland’s midfield probably makes Lawal a more obvious shot at featuring this week, but Vale isn’t discounting the possibility that he could be plunged in at the deep end at the Fortuna Arena.
He has 25 games under his belt this season with QPR and a goal and four assists to his credit in the last two of those, against Leicester City and Portsmouth. A left-footer, he features on the right-wing mostly but can play as an 8, a 10 or even at left-back.
Three yellow cards suggest a player who can put himself about off the ball, as befits a player who promises to “100% work my nuts off”, but this someone whose primary attributes centre on what he can offer in possession.
“I’m playing good football and the staff and manager can see that,” said the 22-year-old. “So it means that if I am called upon and asked to play, hopefully I will be ready and continue that form.”
Made his debut against Romania in Dublin in late March 1988 and named in Jack Charlton’s squad for Euro ’88 but didn’t feature in Germany.
Got a first cap at home to Wales in late March of 1990 when he scored the only goal. Didn’t play in Italy.
Got his first run against Malta in Valletta just nine days before the first group game against England. Came on after 64 minutes in that 1-1 draw and again against Egypt.
Charlton gave debuts to all three in the 0-1 friendly against Russia in late March of 1994. Babb started all four games, Kelly two and McAteer (who also came off the bench three times) one.
Got his first senior cap against Bosnia-Herzegovina just two weeks before the Euro 2012 opener against Croatia in Poznan. Giovanni Trapattoni gave him 14 minutes off the bench against Spain in the second game.
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