ONLY A SMALL band of hardcore Ireland fans will make the journey to the Turkish resort town of Antalya later this month.
The popular holiday destination might be located in an area of the southern Mediterranean region known as the Turquoise Coast due to its blue waters, but just 170 travelling or so supporters are expected to attend the first international fixture of 2018 on 23 March.
It’s fair to say the friendly hasn’t exactly captured the imagination of the Irish public, and there are several factors behind that. Four months may have passed, but the humiliating manner in which the World Cup play-offs ended at home to Denmark last November still looms over the team.
With no major tournament to look forward to, it will be September before Ireland play their next competitive matches in the shape of Uefa Nations League meetings against recent foes Wales and Denmark.
Then there is the ill-feeling towards Martin O’Neill from some quarters over a playing style that many find hard to watch, the continuous links to club jobs and his treatment of RTÉ soccer correspondent Tony O’Donoghue — particularly during their most recent interview back in January.
That said, having eventually put pen to paper on a new deal, the Derry man can begin to draw a line under the latest disappointment tomorrow afternoon when he shows up at the Aviva Stadium to name his squad for the Turkey friendly.
The one-off game — which follows a three-day warm weather training camp — is a great opportunity to give minutes to those fringe players best-equipped to make the step up and fill the spots left vacant by those who have recently retired from Ireland duty.
In an aging group, Daryl Murphy, Wes Hoolahan and Kevin Doyle have already done so, while the likes of John O’Shea, Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters could soon follow suit.
Two players who have shot their hands up to volunteer as adequate replacements of late are Preston North End pair Sean Maguire and Alan Browne. 22-year-old midfielder Browne is up for Championship Player of the Month for his displays under Alex Neill, and he netted in last night’s win over Bristol City.
Ex-Cork City striker Maguire, meanwhile, made his long-awaited bow in the win over Moldova back in October. He has returned from a four-month injury lay-off to score three goals in two substitute appearances in the Championship.
It’s a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for a man who considered giving up on football altogether a couple of years ago, and Maguire now deserves his shot. Aston Villa striker Scott Hogan rediscovered his scoring touch at the turn of the year and warrants a good look too.
Having been involved in previous squads, Wolves wide man Matt Doherty must be overdue a first cap at this stage. The former Bohemians is an ever-present in the side leading the Championship this season. Although Ireland have options at full-back, Enda Stevens of Sheffield United and Preston’s Greg Cunningham could also be worth a shout.
2017 saw Kevin Long (Burnley), John Egan (Brentford), Andy Boyle (Preston – on loan at Doncaster), Daryl Horgan (Preston) and Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa) all make debuts and they will be looking to build on that progress.
The match also allows O’Neill the rare chance to hand a couple of the brightest youngsters their first taste of the senior set-up in a non-pressurised environment.
19-year-old Declan Rice has been a real success story at West Ham and the Ireland U21 international, who can play in defence or sitting in midfield, needs to be included despite his tender years.
While they are well-covered in goal, Darren Randolph, Rob Elliot, Keiren Westwood and Colin Doyle are all over 30 so bringing someone like Manchester United youngster Kieran O’Hara along for the experience would be no harm. The 21-year-old trained with the senior team back in October.
Another significant boost is the return of captain and one of the team’s leaders — Seamus Coleman. The influential full-back has not donned the green shirt since his double leg break against Wales 11 months ago, but he’s back lining out for Everton since recovering fully and should make a welcome return to the fold.
- Originally published at 17.40
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Sorry to hear of the family’s loss, I’m sure the systems he has setup can work well without him when it needs to
Best wishes joe, we’re all thinking about you and your family
@John: we’re not
@Pat Andrews:
If you commented you are thinking about him and his family
(Good Or Bad ??)
@Pat Andrews: d1ckhead
Ive a really mixed feeling on how will we do at the WRC. In one way i feel some of the pressure is off after a poor six nations. After NZ we needed to be brought back down to earth
@Donnacha Bhoicaire: Unpopular opinion but I think this Irish side peaked somewhere between late 2016 and late 2018. Two year cycles are about what you get in rugby these days, New Zealand being an exception. Don’t think they’ll ever drop back to the perennial ‘valiant in defeat’ team they once were, the structures in place are too good and there’s an excellent talent pool there. But it’s incredibly difficult to maintain performance levels the likes of which we’ve seen from them over the last 4-5 years. You’ve also had serious leaders retire and there are some ageing and injury prone legs in the preferred starting line-up these days. Can’t see Ireland getting past the QF’s again at this WC although I’d be happy to be proven incorrect.
@Quoka: spot on
@Quoka: I don’t think that’s unpopular at all, it’s more like consensus. Once again we’ve peaked between cycles and we’re arrived with a gameplan and a group of players a little bit past their best.
Whatever about the quarter finals I hope we’re fully awake to the threat of Scotland and the hosts since everyone seems to be talking about South Africa on presumptions of an easy group.
@Rochelle: it was nice of Joe to share the game plan for the World Cup with you.
Your not an Irish fan because it hurts that joe as an ex Leinster man is our coach. Your a bitter thing who’d rather see Ireland lose so you can blame joe sexton Healy etc
@Quoka: yea no yea, would be shocked to hit a semi.
@Donnacha Bhoicaire: It’ll be the same as it was before, we’ll come through the group really well, the media will lose the run of themselves and say how we should go all the way now that we beat the host nation and the best Scotland side in years, then we’ll lose to SA in the QF.
@Rochelle:
“the threat of Scotland”
What is different is that S A has made a great jump in standard:: When all these teams were selected (the pools set up ) S A were having a nightmare with poor coaches and the SA government sticking their noses in sport ::But they woke up and got a very good coach and the government stepped aside and SA was back up to where they always were :: So Ireland were placed in pools with teams below them at THAT TIME (we were 2 or 3 in the world) but things changed inside S A to bring us to this point ::To get passed into the SF we have to beat either now a very strong SA or NZ ( but first we have to win our pool::) So this year has become a very hard year !!
@Martin Quinn: With SA hitting form at the right time, I actually don’t think it matters whether we come 1st or 2nd in our group now
Okioki i runga i te rangimarie
@Paul: He is not Maori…
@Chris Thorne: How do you know he’s not?
@Eddie Hekenui: Just a guess which is probably right. Either way, it’s ridiculous saying it in Te Reo just because he is from New Zealand.
@Chris Thorne: He could be part Maori, have Maori family or the person who passed away might be Maori or part Maori. And regardless it’s just a nice thing to say and something that is said in New Zealand by many when there is a death. Nothing ridiculous about someone being decent and paying their respects.
@Eddie Hekenui: I’ve been to both pakeha funerals and Maori Tangi, and the only place I heard it was at the Tangi. So no, it is not said by many in New Zealand…
@Chris Thorne: And Maori’s make up what 15-20% of the population plus whatever percentage have Maori heritage or family. That’d be many people in my books. Plus I’ll say again you’ve no idea the heritage of the person who died. They might very well be Maori and regardless it’s just a nice thing to say. You’re just being needlessly obtuse.
@Quoka: I also feel we put too much stock in world rankings and November internationals. The world cup is really the best, arguably only, way to assess comparative strength between NH and SH, as the last world cup clearly shower.
@Alistair Fyffe: *clearly showed….
@Alistair Fyffe: i just hope Ireland has a November international this year .
Condolences to Joe and his family.