EMMET MALONEon how the midfielder kept his usual calm as he helped console Aaron Ramsey after his horrific injury

THE RESPECTIVE managers may have split along predictable lines on the question of intent but everyone who witnessed Ryan Shawcross’s challenge on young Aaron Ramsey on Saturday and the terrible injury that resulted could at least unite in expressing their hope that such a gifted young player will make a quick and full recovery.

Most of the players that found themselves close to the scene on Saturday were clearly so upset they couldn’t bear to look, while one or two Arsenal players were reported to have vomited even as Shawcross was departing on a red card, clearly distraught himself at the injury he had inflicted.

In the midst of it all, it seems, only one player appeared to keep his head. As Ramsey lay writhing on the ground and trying to see for himself whether the damage to his leg was as bad as the pain it was generating, Glenn Whelan quickly came to the player’s aid, crouching down beside and attempting to provide both comfort and distraction while the medical staff made their way across to start their work.

“First and foremost everyone involved hopes the young lad gets back and to the standard he was at because he looks a terrific player,” said Whelan when asked to reflect on it all yesterday.

“I was the next one in and I saw what went on and the lad was trying to look down at his leg and I was just there holding his hand and trying to take his mind off it, telling him to think of something else.

“He knew straight away (it was bad), he just kept saying “my leg, my leg” and because I was close he held on to me, squeezing my hand because of the pain. I was just telling him to try to think of anything else until the physios and medical staff came on but he went into like a state of shock.”

Whelan’s calm in the circumstances is bound to have impressed Giovanni Trapattoni, a manager who speaks so regularly about the character of his players and how important it is when considering how to build a team.

Loyalty to the group and its members counts for much with the Italian too and Whelan, who said he would not watch a replay of the incident and felt broadcasters had been right not to show them over the weekend, displayed plenty of this too as he insisted Shawcross had done no more wrong than to be fractionally late for a 50-50 ball.

“It was just one of those things,” he said, “the pair of them could go for that exact type of ball a 100 times more, maybe, and neither of them would be hurt. Unfortunately they were unlucky on Saturday.”

The Dubliner, meanwhile, is looking forward to another big week with Chelsea to come on Sunday in the FA Cup quarter-finals and another big year as the Ireland side gets its campaign to qualify for the next European Championships under way in the autumn.

“After going so close in the World Cup, we’re going to have to cope with bigger expectations, people are going to be talking about us winning the group,” he said. “Hopefully we can, but there are some difficult places to go and the important thing is to keep our heads and quietly set about picking up as many points as we can.”