Super start puts fun back into
Irish football
By Gareth Makim
We couldn’t have asked for a better start. Not only did Ireland
record a win over World Cup-bound Sweden in their first game under Steve
Staunton, but they did it with a performance that oozed confidence, vitality
and spirit, all qualities that ebbed away during the final months of Brian
Kerr’s stewardship.
For the first time since taking over from Kerr, Staunton’s guarded
manner broke down as his enthusiasm and delight in his team’s efforts.
And he wasn’t the only one. Popular physio Mick Byrne, jettisoned
by Kerr, is back and was mobbed by players in the wake of Ireland’s
goals.
His youthful side, led by 25-year-old Robbie Keane, seemed to enjoy their
work far more than any Irish team of recent years, elder statesmen (and
I use the term ‘elder’ loosely) like Keane, Richard Dunne
and the renewed Damien Duff guiding and encouraging the new blood in equal
measure.
New caps Joey O’Brien, Stephen Ireland, Kevin Doyle and Wayne Henderson
thus settled almost immediately and all four can be hugely encouraged
by their first taste of football at the highest level. With Brighton’s
Henderson the eldest at 22, Staunton’s aim to bring more youth into
the squad looks likely to be achieved well in advance of the start of
the 2010 World Cup campaign.
Of greatest encouragement to Staunton’s hopes of being competitive
in the qualifying campaign for Euro 2008 were the performances of Damien
Duff and Steven Reid.
Duff, now 27, has often been his own sternest critic in the wake of a
disappointing couple of years, by his own standards at least, in a green
shirt.
Last week, though, the Duffer was back to his very best, opening the scoring
and tormenting the Swedish full backs from start to finish.
Reid, after an injury-plagued couple of seasons, has been in a rich vein
of form of late. He is well established in the centre of Blackburn’s
midfield and is one of the major reasons the Lancashire club are chasing
a place in Europe next season. His excellent form saw him named alongside
John O’Shea in Ireland’s engine room and he didn’t disappoint,
offering hope that perhaps he can provide the mixture of drive and creative
spark that we have been missing in the centre of the park.
Plenty of question marks remain, particularly regarding a partner for
Richard Dunne at centre-half and whether O’Shea is cut out to be
an international midfield player, but there was enough quality, and more
importantly team spirit, on show to make you believe that Steve Staunton
might just be the man to lift Ireland out of the doldrums.
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