OFTEN, AFTER A long, hard season, players are somewhat relieved around this period, when the relentless-seeming club fixture list has finally abated.
Not Seamus Coleman though. Having returned from almost a year out injured in January and with the pain of Ireland missing out on the World Cup still relatively fresh in the memory, he cannot feel a total sense of satisfaction as he prepares for a vacation with his wife and two kids in Spain.
“When the World Cup draw and the excitement of it all starts, you realise, even now, how big it is and how disappointed you really are not to be there,” he says.
Coleman won’t be rooting for anyone in Russia, but he will take an especially keen interest in Denmark’s games, knowing it could have been Ireland there instead. And having witnessed first-hand the talent of France last week, he fancies Didier Deschamps’ side to go far in the competition.
And what of England?
“I hope my teammates do well but I don’t want England to be winning it,” he says bluntly.
And while the 2018 World Cup will be difficult viewing from an Irish perspective, Coleman is optimistic that the team are better than recent results have shown.
After a four-match winless run and just two goals scored in five games, the 2-1 USA friendly victory, despite the relative weakness of the opposition, at least brought a more positive outlook to proceedings ahead of Ireland’s Nations Cup opener away to Wales in September.
There will be that transition period, but with the manager in charge, he has that unbelievable way of motivating his players and motivating us in the dressing room. I have no doubt that we will be competitive [in the upcoming games], I know we have lost a lot of top players in the last few years and maybe the players coming through, no disrespect to anybody but we are looking at League One and all the rest and it’s great when they come in, but we lost a higher bit of quality.
“But when they come in and get to know the place and what the manager wants, what it means to put on the Irish shirt, that Irish competitiveness will always be there and I fully believe we can qualify for the next tournament and going into the Nations League as well, the manager has spoken about how important that is.”
And while Ireland did look distinctly ordinary against France last week, they were missing some key players, with the Everton man citing Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick and James McCarthy — three of the midfield men who starred in the famous victory over Italy at the Euros. McCarthy, of course, is still recovering from a horrific leg break he suffered playing for Everton last January. Coleman was promptly on hand to console his “best friend in football” following the incident.
“The day James got injured was difficult for me,” he recalls. “I was upset for James, not because I’ve done it before him, but because he’s a friend and for anyone to go through that [is tough].
“I could have been more upset for him than I was for myself. It was hard to see him go through it, especially given the year that he’s had [with multiple injuries]. He’s such a good lad who really wants to do well. Sometimes you think: ‘Where’s your luck?’ But he’s been great, he’s been positive.
“It’s not straightforward, there are aches and pains that you worry about along the way but week by week, month by month, they just start going away and me myself, I feel great. So I’ve been very positive about mine and that probably helps James, because it’s so fresh in my mind.”
And while recovering from such a serious injury can be tough from both a mental and physical perspective, for someone with Coleman’s fierce competitive streak, it was always going to be a task he embraced.
I think when these injuries happen, speaking for myself, I never once took going to training for granted, never once took playing a game for granted, never ever. But when I got injures, my love for it just became 10 times more, my commitment to it and that’s me who loved it anyway, so I think James will be so committed, so determined to come back.
“I suppose in the early days, especially me, you read headlines, doctors saying he’ll never play again and all this nonsense, it’s all fuel to the fire. I think James will be the same; you just want to prove people wrong and come back as good and as strong as ever. You know, there’ll be times when you miss a tackle or have a bad game and you have to deal with people saying, ‘ah, you know, he’s not the same as he was before the injury,’ but you had bad games and missed tackles before the injury but you just have to deal with it. In a weird way I enjoyed the rehab to mine, just trying to get back on the pitch, it was a another challenge really.
“I remember when I was injured, you’d see players, ex-players saying, ah, it will be difficult to come back, whatever the case may be… Nobody saying anything wrong, it was just a topic of conversation, but it would still have you saying to yourself: ‘I’ll be back and I’ll show everyone that I’ll be back.’
“If you do things properly with this type of injury especially, once the bone heals, you’re fine. Some guys do their knees and that can be quite a tricky injury but with this one, once the bone heals, that’s you, there’s no maintenance after that.”
McCarthy and Coleman are not the only Irish internationals to have suffered horror injuries in recent times. Alan Judge was out injured for 637 days in total, and has been making good progress since returning for Brentford in January, even scoring a memorable late winner at the Aviva last Saturday.
Judge celebrated the goal with palpable emotion, and it was no surprise to see, as there appeared to be serious doubts about his future in football at one point, with an even more lengthy and arduous recovery process needed compared with Coleman’s rehab, which was difficult in its own right.
“Thankfully for me, [the injury] was quite straightforward. Unfortunately for Judgey, he had a few quite tough months and I was so, so happy for him to score the other night. I can’t explain how happy I was for him. He’s had one hell of a shift that he’s put in. He’s probably had people really doubting whether he would come back.
“It’s been, what, two years maybe, so for that strength of character and to look so well; he’s looked so much better on this trip than he did in Turkey, he’ll tell you that himself, in training and to see him score… It was just a friendly, but the celebration was more for Judgey than anything else, because it was so good to see.”
While physically, he feels okay, Coleman still believes he has yet to fully regain his match sharpness following that long period out injured. Watching on as Ireland were thrashed by Denmark at the Aviva and Everton were struggling in the Premier League, the Donegal native admits feeling almost guilty that he could do nothing about either situation amid a frustrating recuperation period.
Throughout my whole injury [Denmark] was probably the hardest night, because I was so gutted and felt a fully-fit me could have made a difference. It was heartbreaking to see James McClean afterwards, he was in bits.
“At Everton, I felt guilty when Ronald Koeman lost his job. I felt I could have helped had I been around. I don’t like seeing people losing their jobs, no matter who is in charge. Nowadays, to players, managers are just a case of one comes and one goes. I give my all to every manager, so I felt guilty. He showed great commitment by flying over to Donegal when I got the injury, as did Martin O’Neill.”
Coleman is now eager to make up for lost time. At Everton, he is hopeful new boss Marco Silva can help the Toffees break the current top-six’s Premier League stranglehold, while he would “snap your hands off” too for a League or FA Cup trophy.
On the international front, he is optimistic that some of the younger players can fulfill their potential. He hopes the likes of Seanie Maguire, Graham Burke and Declan Rice can maintain their recent encouraging form, with the West Ham starlet in particular catching the captain’s eye.
“I don’t want to build him up too much. He looks fantastic. I don’t know the ins and outs of how well he’s done at club level, but he’s looked really well. I think the manager’s been really good with him. He’s probably been our best player in the three games that he’s played. Like I talked about with the manager earlier, he’s got a great way of making players feel 10 foot tall and I think he’s doing that with Declan at the minute. It’s really working and Declan’s thriving…. We’re very lucky to have him, so there is excitement there definitely.
“I remember my first trip back was Turkey away. We were doing a possession game and 30 seconds in, you knew — he’s got something. He was getting in people’s faces, getting the ball off people, switching play, just that hunger and desire to do well. We’re all excited by him and there’s obviously that bit of pressure on him. You don’t want to put that on him, but I feel like he’s nearly capable of handling it.
You’d let him away with it if he was a bit arrogant around the hotel, because of how good he is, but he’s just so well brought up and so down to earth, you can tell. His mum and dad come and watch him everywhere, so it’s a great story.”
The other man to grab headlines against the US, Graham Burke, is similarly a player that could force his way into contention for selection come September.
Recent reports have linked Burke — the first League of the Ireland player to score for the Boys in Green for over 40 years last Saturday — with an imminent move to Preston. And while the 24-year-old’s departure will certainly be a loss for the domestic game, Coleman feels it is a positive step for Irish football in the long run.
“I’d love to sit here and say you don’t need to make the step, but I just feel like it’s such a difficult one — they’re the same player in the league as they are when they go over, but it’s just proving yourself against that higher opposition, so I think it makes the manager’s job or his mind up a little bit easier.
People can say some Ireland games are very bad, but I went to the Bohs-Shamrock Rovers game and it was poor. But then you watch the game on telly — Dundalk played Shamrock Rovers. There was some nice football. I don’t want to judge it completely, but I do think players might have to go over [if they want to feature for the national team consistently].
“It’s alright coming in and getting a few caps, I know people want to see the lads do well in the league, but I want to see lads go over and be really successful for themselves as well. Hearing Graham is going over [to Preston] is bad for the league, but I’m delighted he gets to show what he can do over there. Straight away, the recognition becomes a lot more. The national team needs more players in the Premier League and Championship.”
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