TO LOOK AT Jake OโBrien now youโd be tempted to make a pretty quick assumption about the towering 6ft 4in defender.
You might think he had been earmarked from an early age as someone head and shoulders โ quite literally in his case โ above his counterparts.
And youโd be wrong.
The former Cork City centre back has become a colossus for Ligue 1 giants Lyon this season and, at the age of 22, has earned his first senior Republic of Ireland call-up on the back of a staggering rise since a โฌ1 million move from Crystal Palace, via a loan spell with RWD Molenbeek in Belgiumโs second tier.
It was a very modern transfer given that American billionaire John Textorโs Eagle Football Holdings owns all three clubs.
But OโBrien is not a young star who got a head start because of his height.
Quite the opposite.
He only made his international bow at U21 level in 2021 and while he grew up with Adam Idah on the Leeside schoolboy scene, first getting to know the striker โfrom around 10 or 11โณ, their trajectories were markedly different.
โI wasnโt as physically developed enough to compete with these players. It was only 16, 17 things started coming for me in terms of physicality. When I was at Cork City it was about putting it together, physicality and developing before going over to England,โ he says.
โEver since I was young I always believed I could play for Ireland. It was more about patience and taking the opportunity when it came. Everyone develops at different stages and for me it was a later stage to other players, but I always believed in myself.โ
OโBrien was a midfielder and forward in his early teens, while also playing hurling and impressing in the boxing ring.
Enjoyable first few days with the boys ๐ค๐ผ๐ @IrelandFootball pic.twitter.com/SWP2hdCCds
โ Jake OโBrien (@obrienjake_) March 19, 2024
โLearning different aspects of different sports and taking things away from all of them. Itโs made me the player that I am,โ OโBrien says. โBut football was always the one I enjoyed most.โ
A turning point to help improve that physicality came at the age of 16. After being told that he wasnโt strong enough to compete at international level after an unsuccessful trial for Irelandโs U16s, OโBrien returned to Cork determined to improve.
He changed his diet, increased his gym work and continued with boxing. The weight and muscle should have increased, instead he became more gaunt.
That is when tests in hospital over the course of one week uncovered that he was a Type 1 diabetic. He now takes insulin to regulate his blood sugar and has learned to manage his body for games.
He scored a late winner for Lyon in a 3-2 win over Toulouse before joining up with interim boss John OโSheaโs squad for the friendlies with Belgium and Switzerland.
His four goals in 22 games provide an indication of the unexpected strides he has made in France. Lyon struggled under former boss Laurent Blanc and didnโt win a game until November โ OโBrien scored that winner too โ but the Youghal man had his chance and took it.
Fabio Grosso was Blancโs replacement by that stage and he was at the helm for just two months before Pierre Sage took over in a season of disarray that is now beginning to turn around. OโBrien continues to keep former Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren, whom he describes as โ a good person to talk to and learn fromโ, out of the side while the supportersโ protests that blighted his early days in the city are no more.
โThere is pressure as a club because the fans can be on you, but I think they have a right to because of the size of club it is,โ he says.
โBut for a young player, thatโs what you have to do. You have to go in and try to win games. Itโs not about developing any more, itโs about winning. Especially for Lyon who are used to winning.โ
Taking that same mentality into the Ireland camp is key, and while the likes of Nathan Collins, Dara OโShea and Andrew Omobamidele are three Premier League rivals more established in the set-up, he may also be the perfect penalty box threat to fill the Shane Duffy-shaped void.
โFor me, itโs to up the levels and train with these players, to really enjoy it and see.โ
OโBrien has already made a habit of disrupting the status quo this season.
Diff type of footballer these days and they aint any better they are not even good enough to stand beside Stevie/keano/,viera/scholes . All them men played ball and took and gave a tackle. All thats there now with exception of one or two is a glorified bunch of mammy boys
Bang on from Gerrard. Mings tackle looked like a sore one, may have even injured Saka badly but it was just bad luck and thatโs part of contact sport! The game as a spectacle has been majorly dented by soft officiating over the past 10 years lets not make it even worse.
So just because Gerrard has screws in his hips and 16 different operations thatโs means that every English player from now on needs to end up like him or they havenโt had it โtoughโ enough. What a silly comment from Gerrard. Probably said in the heat of the moment after the defeat I hope!
@kev egan: No heโs highlighting that itโs still a contact sport. To many fairies like saka expecting a foul every time they fall down cause someone breathed on them while running. Not every bit of physical contact is a foul. Itโs not basketball
@Phil Redmond: fairiesโฆ.
Thereโs clips of Gerrard saying his Rangers players need more protection..
Iโm sure Stevie would be telling Saka to toughen up if he was a Villa playerโฆ
Twas an awful fall in fairness Steve,Glad ur okโฆ
Iโm a huge fan of Stevie but this attitude of โfairies vs tough menโ is nonsense. Villa kicked him off the pitch, Mings was lucky not to see red. Players who rough up players and repeatedly foul are not toughโฆ. theyโre a bit rubbish at football is all.