A squad riddled with players who were hoping for more out of their club season’s conclusion began to gather last night.
A squad replete with players who were hoping for more out of their club season's conclusion began to gather last night in Malahide where Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill suggested the scale of the games his side will play over the next two weeks will quickly help to lift the morale of those who have taken a bit of a battering.
The likes of Shay Given, Robbie Brady and Richard Keogh must certainly be relieved that they have not had to delay summer breaks for a couple of completely meaningless friendlies. England next weekend will mean a lot to them while Scotland simply means a lot.
“Yeah, it’s really now at this stage of immediate disappointment for the Hull lads going down and they’re not just going to forget about that, it takes a bit of time. But these are important games for us now coming up so I don’t think they’re going to just dwell on it. These are important games for their country so I think that they can lift themselves.”
Dismal display
The Hull City players, he admits, must be particularly disappointed with the way they have gone down with wins over Crystal Palace and Liverpool apparently giving them every chance of saving themselves before a dismal display against Burnley put them in dire trouble.
Still he suggests, there are some sort for positives on the personal front for a few players. Given, for instance, has played more in the last few weeks than he could probably have reasonably hoped a few months back even if there has been the disappointment of conceding six in a league game and four against Arsenal in the FA Cup final at Wembley over the weekend.
“I spoke with Shay and I think the very obvious thing is they were second best over the weekend, well and truly beaten, a lot of below par performances. So, he’s disappointed for everyone, for the supporters, for just about everyone involved in the club because they didn’t perform. But he’s got that game, he’s got the matches now; he’s played a number of matches since before the end of the season so from that point of view he’s fine.”
O'Neill hopes to see his full squad, bar Robbie Keane who is due to travel home after LA Galaxy's game at the weekend, train together for the first time this morning at the Aviva.
Too late
Marc Wilson, Shane Long, Stephen Ward, Aiden McGeady, Wes Hoolahan and Jon Walters all arrived too late for yesterday’s session which Paul McShane sat out due to the ongoing effects of that Marouane Fellaini challenge on the last day of the season.
Of the others, Walters and Hoolahan are carrying slight knee problems with the latter having decided to join the squad despite his club’s preference that he take as much time as possible to get fully fit for next season. All, in any case, are expected to be in contention to feature on Sunday against England and most are likely to feature in the training game against Northern Ireland on Thursday when, O’Neill suggests, he will give as many players as possible a run out.
“On Thursday we can do what we want,” he says; “maybe divide it into three lots, or a half each. I would expect to use a lot of players over the course of that time.
“We start proper training tomorrow, we’ve got Wednesday, then Thursday to use that as training, it’s a build-up particularly for those players who’ve missed out for the last month. The Championship players especially, they’ll be heavily involved in that warm-up game against Northern Ireland.”
One player who has missed out on a good deal more than the last month is 27-year-old Ipswich striker David McGoldrick. Injury ruled him out of Ireland’s qualifier against Poland in the spring as well as almost the entirety of his club’s run in. Now he’s relieved to be back and hoping for opportunities to remind O’Neill of the promise he showed on his debut, against the United States.
“It was a great feeling playing against the USA and I was looking forward to the next squad when the injury happened,” he says. “It was frustrating and a race against time to get fit (for these games), I wasn’t sure if I was going to be selected. When I got the call to say that I’d got into the final squad, it was a great relief and I am really excited about the two weeks ahead of me.”
“I’m here but there are some top strikers, top players, here so I’ll work hard and if I catch the gaffer’s eye, I might get a chance, if not, I’ve got two good weeks training. I am a humble lad and I just want to be a part of training. If I do catch the gaffer’s eye, then good; if not, I’m happy to be here.”
