IRELAND’S LACK OF young talent is a major worry, according to Shay Given.
In the wake of Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to Serbia, the 134-times capped former goalkeeper believes it is unfair to expect the likes of 35-year-old Wes Hoolahan to carry the team going forward.
Callum O’Dowda and Cyrus Christie were the only two players in the most recent squad under the age of 25 and manager Martin O’Neill doesn’t feel the next generation are ready for senior international football.
“The bigger concern would be the players coming through,” said Given. Where is the likes of the new Robbie [Keane], [Damien] Duffer or [Richard] Dunney?
“There’s been a lot of media stuff around Wes and whether he should or shouldn’t play. He’s a quality player, don’t get me wrong, but he’s 35 years of age. You’re pinning all your hopes on someone who is coming to the latter part of his career.”
After picking up just one point from this week’s double-header, Ireland sit outside the qualification places and they must defeat both Moldova and Wales next month to have any hope of securing a place at the 2018 World Cup.
“You’d like to think we can beat Moldova at home and then we’re into a cup final sort of scenario in Cardiff,” added Given.
It would be the real kick in the teeth if we finished second and we were the ninth-placed runner-up. If we win the last two games we’ve got a realistic chance.”
A report in The Times this morning claims the FAI are prepared to offer O’Neill and his backroom staff a new two-year contract regardless of whether the Boys in Green progress to next year’s finals in Russia and Given feels that would be the right move.
“I think he probably should [stay on],” he said. “They were unbeaten in qualifying until this week. I know he got a lot of stick after the Georgia game. I think it was unfair in a sense as the players themselves admitted they were below par. You get off days in football and that was one of them.
“The Serbia performance was far better. You would have to ask Martin what he wants to do but I’m sure the FAI will want to keep him and Roy for the next campaign.”
If O’Neill was to leave after this two-year cycle, would assistant Roy Keane be a good option to replace him?
“That would be the natural progression — be it this time if Martin stepped away or in the future. He would probably see himself as manager one day.
“I think he’s quite keen and it’s no secret that he wants to get back into management, whether that’s with Ireland, a club in England or another country. He’s not made any secret of that and I’m sure that he will be back in management one day.”
Republic of Ireland fans can only look on in envy as Northern Ireland strengthened their claim for the runners-up spot in Group C with victory over the Czech Republic this week.
Former Shamrock Rovers boss Michael O’Neill has done worked wonders with a limited resources and he looks set to lead them to a second major tournament after their last-16 appearance at Euro 2016.
“They’ve probably got a similar pool of players to ourselves and Michael O’Neill has done a fantastic job there,” says Given. “They beat the Czech Republic 2-0 the other night and it went unnoticed like that was a normal result.
A few years back, that would have been one of the best results in the history of Northern Ireland but that shows how far they have come on.
“It’s about playing to your strengths and they know the system well. They’ve been very successful.”
At 41, Given is currently unattached but the Donegal stopper is not quite ready to call time on his career just yet and he has been training with Macclesfield Town to stay fit.
“I’ve enjoyed the everyday interaction with the lads and I’m going to miss that when I do finish. I’ve been doing a bit of media and I’ve been at Macclesfield a couple of days a week as well.”
Former team-mate Robbie Keane has recently agreed to join Indian Super League outfit Atletico de Kolkata, but it doesn’t interest Given.
“Robbie spoke to me, I think it was to come and clean his boots!” he joked. “With my family situation at the minute, I’ve got four kids but two very young ones so maybe that wouldn’t be for me at the minute.
“Good luck to Robbie and he’s had an amazing career. He feels like it’s an opportunity where he wants to play and score goals and that’s what he’s all about. I think he misses playing football everyday.”
Like fellow ex-Ireland internationals Kevin Kilbane, Keith Andrews, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne, Given has been trying his hand at some media work of late and it’s an avenue he’s open to pursuing further.
I’ve been getting a bit of stick off the lads, who have said I’m on every channel they turn on. My Twitter feed has been on fire with people saying ‘Can you get off my TV set?’.
“I’ve actually enjoyed it. Maybe it’s got something to do with having a four month old baby and being able to get out of the house for a rest!
“I’m getting to watch football and talk about it. That’s all I’ve known all my life so I find it quite easy to talk about different players and systems. It’s something I hope to improve on.”
- Originally published at 1.00pm
Pictured is former Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given, who was appearing to promote the BT Sport line-up on the eir Sport Pack, at eir Group HQ. eir Sport yesterday announced an exciting line up of live content for the new season on the eir Sport Pack. The Uefa Champions League, the Uefa Europa League, the Premier League, rugby’s European Champions Cup, the AIB Club Championships and the Allianz Leagues will all form part of a bumper season ahead
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It’s simple logistics, Ireland has the population of a medium sized city. The chances of us ever having a team with 3 or 4 world class players are low, lower given the team we had in the late 80s/early 90s.
It’s also a numbers game, we have a very good rugby team, with some legitimate stars of the world game, which will attract more kids into taking up rugby. (The social aspect of rugby at junior/senior level is also better than the same in soccer.)
GAA also plays a huge factor, it’s now a 12 month game so young players don’t have time to focus on other sports.
In short, too many sports, not enough people.
@David: it’s not logistics, but you’re correct otherwise
@David: so how come a rugby mad country like wales with a small polulation were able to produce Gareth Bale?
@Cathal Scully: do the play much GAA in Wales? We produced Liam Brady and Paul McGrath.
@David: very big into cricket
@Cathal Scully: not really, Glamorgan in the county championship is about it
@Cathal Scully: every country has a once in a generation world class player, we had giles, Brady, McGrath, Roy and Robbie Keane. Wales had Ryan Giggs for years and he barely played. So Bale is now their one in a generation player. I can hardly see Lee Evans lighting up the world.
@O’David Dave: what about belguim, population of 11m
@Cathal Scully: their national sport is soccer.
@David: Uruguay?? Same population, granted football is no.1 outright their but still.. Iceland is another extreme example of a country that invested in it’s own league and youth system. Delaney was lucky he had coaches like Kerr in the FAI, but no more.. that great 2002 WC squad seems a very distant memory right?!… Agree with your point I guess, but I don’t except that we can’t do any better.
@David: iceland has less than half a million, better team than us,Belgium has only double our pop many excellent players,Holland only 3 times our pop many great players over the years. Only taking dublin ,as an example. Schoolboy football and the way that’s it’s run is a disgrace ,even brown envelopes are known to appear.
@Pat Troy: how many sports other than Soccer do those countries compete at world level in? Rugby? No. Boxing? No. Horse racing? No. None of those countries have all encompassing sports like the GAA either.
@David: no it’s not pigeon racing is
@Cathal Scully: no pigeon racing is
@David: the most popular sport in Iceland is handball ,there is horse racing on Icelandic horses and athletics..Belgium has many top people in cycling, tennis ,athletics.
@David: pigeon racing is national there national sport
@Steff Blood: ireland were once top 10 in the world rankings in soccer, but the rugby team was shit… every country has a golden generation… class players come from all countries. My point is that GAA is by far and away the biggest sport in the country, it now has a 12 month season. It doesn’t leave much time for other sports to develop. It’s not a difficult concept unless you’re thick
@Pat Troy: shut up pat.
@David: do what Jack Charlton did and send out scouts for the Granny passports, there must be hundreds of English lads with some ancestry who would love to play Internationals. We have a good rugby team but there are a good few squad players there on the residency rule and forget about WES FKIN HOOLAHON
@David: Have to agree. Growing up in Kilkenny, most of the best athletes played hurling seriously and football was just a pasttime. I don’t see anything wrong with that either by the way. I think the more physical sports suit our psyche better and they are part of what we are. Football has become almost a non-contact sport which means some people would never play it. Like many aussies, kiwis, americans and canadians we love our physical sports. Despite all that, we can still produce great footballers particularly from hotbeds in Dublin and Cork. Maybe the underage structures need to reviewed because the academies of English clubs can’t be relied upon to bring through Irish talent anymore. There’s no clear path to the pro game like in the Leinster academy for example.
The Irish public expect the same ‘success’ as the rugby team. And by success I mean losing to Arg each world cup and having a 6 nations every year.
There are only about 8-10 teams in Rugby. 95% of nations play football. Our population isn’t even in top 100. So we’re punching above our weight as it is.
@Stu: Boggles my mind how people in this country begrudge their own. What the Irish rugby team has achieved is nothing short of superb. Let’s not forget, Rugby is the 4th most popular sport in this country. And yes, I am a much bigger fan of rugby and hurling than soccer but that doesn’t mean I begrudge the Irish soccer team. It really is a cultural thing I despise about the Irish.
@Dave Barry: I agree with you both . We are overachieving in both sports for a country of our size. I think the issue we have right now is the expectation we have of the football team to be better than what we are right now, given where we were a few years ago.
I reckon one of the biggest issues is the generational shift of the ex-pat community in the UK. Second generation Irish kids growing up in London/Manchester/Birmingham who might have considered representing Ireland (like Aldridge/Houghton/er…Cascarino…) have less of an attachment to the motherland. That’s not a bad thing either – it probably means we’re maturing from our post-colonial identity.
Apart from that – it’s all Glenn Whelan’s fault we’re sh*t.
@Dave Barry:
Rugby is a colonial game in this country, and is an upper class sport also.Only a few countries, mainly Britain, France and their former colonies play it,whereas soccer is a truly international game. It is also much safer to play than Rugby.
We might have someone to be the new “insert name here” but they won’t get a chance under O’Neill. He isn’t one for promoting youth, plays the tried and trusted few.
@Raymond O’Brien: Who are the youth players you are referring to? I’m intrigued.
@Kevin Kane: Horgan, Seani, Kevin Long, Cunningham, Browne to name a few. He has given Callum O’Dowda a decent few games but he seems the only one.
@Mark McDermott: The same Kevin Long and Horgan who he handed first caps to but are also the same players that can’t make their respective teams? He has started calling Browne into squads and poor aul Greg seems to have terrible luck with injuries anytime he gets the call. Seanie got the call recently too so not quite sure what you’re talking about tbh? As you say O’Dowda (and Christie) getting a fair few chances but also Duffy has been thrown into international football by the current management and thrived.
How about Jeff Hendrick, Robbie Brady, Seamus Coleman. All good players. Shane Duffy has a all the makings of a solid centre back as well. He could easily develop into the mould of a Richard Dunne. It’s not all doom and gloom. A few bad performances and critic’s overreact. MON is doing a solid job with what he has.
@Niall Dowdall: Nothern Ireland.
@Paul Mcnevin: what’s the point?
For me O’Neill needs to be doing more. McCarthy introduced Keane as an 18 year old playing for Wolves and Duff as a 19 year old playing for Blackburn. International football helped them get moves to bigger clubs and thus helping them improve.. O’Neill should have Declan Rice straight in who’s already playing in premier league and also Manning who’s with QPR . Lads like that could move quickly if they where given exposure .. not packing them of too Baku with Noel King in our u23 squad
@Ciaran Dunne: With respect, Stevie Wonder could have seen the star potential in Duffer and a young Keane. They weren’t two ordinary players pulled in off the street and moulded into top class performers. They were prodigies. O’Neill doesn’t have that talent coming through and it’s been like that for over ten years.
Liam Kelly surely the pick of the litter? Playing very well for a top championship team (Reading), creative, scores goals and highly rated by Jaap Stam for his technical ability…
Its difficult for younger players when O’Neill either doesn’t give them a chance or says he will wait and see on them which he said again on Seani & Hogan.
To name a few who should have more caps would defo be Hourihane first as he is a very creative player and a decent option instead of Wesso.
Others would be Seani, Horgan, Sean Long, Cunningham would be a good option instead of Ward. There are more but can’t be arsed writing them down.
Id rather see us not qualifying but playing good football and giving younger players a chance instead of the same old same old. Sadly nothing will change as we saw with him bringing McGeady on when id have killed to see Hourihane given a chance to create something for us.
@Mark McDermott: Hourihane was playing league 2 b4 last season & couldn’t get on Villa team at start of season. Maguire has only played a few games in the championship, Horgan can’t make Preston team, Long is 28 and cant make Burley team (has only played a few times for them). None of these players deserve more caps than they have and Cunningham is injured.
@John Buckley: If you can’t recognise the quality of Hourihane, Horgan and Maguire then you don’t know much about football. Preston have a new coach and Maguire’s just moved there, but if you’ve watched them at all you would see how good they are and how much potential they have. Hourihane was signed after an unreal season at Barnsley, and didn’t start for Villa as Bruce brought in a few hasbeens that he assumed would help, when shown they couldn’t Hourihane came in and did the business.
These players deserve the faith of a manager compared with the tripe we’ve seen this campaign, at least with 20-30 mins to go in games.
@Séamus Ó Lochlainn: did you even read the comments. There was no mention of quality, it was about if they deserved more caps. Hourihane has had 1 season in the championship and he has been in and out of the Villa team for half it. Horgan can’t make the Preston team. Maguire has only played a few games for Preston and all out of position. If you think these unproven players are answer you know nothing about football. Try reading a comment in future.
@John Buckley: I think they deserve a place on form, not just appearances for their new clubs. I see your point though it makes sense to conservatives like O’Neill but they’re worth bringing into the fold it could only improve them and offers something a bit different.
Not the answer of course, a completely new approach is needed, to Irish soccer in general.
Using the we are a small country with a small population excuse is lazy , avoids the facts and is basically pure nonsense because it plainly not true in an international football sense. The pool of players that we select from is not just from the island of Ireland but also players from the UK and beyond who are eligible to play for us under FIFA rules. We have used this ruling consistently for decades and will continue to. So population wise that puts us as a mid size country at least.
And being a small country doesn’t stop you developing good footballers if you want to, just look at Croatia.
A strong national football team is more beneficial to a nation than a good rugby team or your county winning the all Ireland. Tine to put more money and emphasis into football. Feck the rest
Why would you need anyone new, when you that magician in midfield, Glenn Whelan.
@….: Utterly useless player. The mystery continues..
Needs to start at underage level. Lots of talented youngsters around the country but no opportunities for them to progress outside of their local club.
Woodburn scored for wales to win a game(1 game), came off the bench to set up winning goal in 2nd game. He is 17 years old.
No 17 year old would get a chance to play for Ireland, regardless of talent.
@Robc: *(1st game)
They’re all busy playing FIFA.
The next Duff is already here (but not picked) Horgan looks like and plays like him.
Do the FAI have any academy system like the provincial rugby academies? I know on the past the big English clubs would take Irish teenagers into their academies and develop them into top players but with all the mobey these days they just scour the globe for the best young talent. No clear path to the pro game for an aspiring young Irish footballer.
Here: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/roy-curtis-debut-of-jinking-damien-duff-lookalike-shows-that-horgan-rocket-will-keep-on-soaring-35573386.html
At Preston North end
I blame brexit
Are none
D