Gavin Cooney

THE LATEST PROOF of Andrew Moran’s eye-catching potential came in conversation with Stephen Kenny at the Aviva Stadium yesterday. 

Asked about the absence of Sammie Szmodics from his latest squad – Szmodics is the latest wrongly exiled hero to the quota of online Irish fans who must be eternally furious – Kenny began explaining his decision before veering into his impressions of Szmodics’ Blackburn team-mate Moran.

“He is somewhat unfortunate not to be in this squad”, began Kenny about Szmodics, before veering to Moran. 

“The player that has caught my attention the most has been Andy Moran. He has been absolutely terrific in both Blackburn’s games last week. He was very close to being called up. Physically, when you step up to international football, as we found with some of the young players, physically it is a big jump physically.

“Andy Moran will definitely have a good career for Ireland, he will definitely been a senior international player. He is something different, a dribbler from midfield who opens up the game and someone I’m really impressed with.” 

Moran is spending the season on loan at Blackburn from Brighton, and has made an instant impact. He stole headlines in his side’s Carabao Cup win over Cardiff recently, scoring twice and assisting another two goals in a 5-2 win. He also won a penalty which a team-mate missed. 

“I was at that game and it was an absolutely fantastic performance”, said Kenny.”I know Cardiff made 10 changes, but that was a real standout performance and I think he is going to be an excellent player for Ireland.”

Moran captained the Irish U21s squad in last month’s games against Turkey and San Marino, and has been named among that squad for the qualifier against Latvia on Friday week. With that being the only U21s game in this window, Kenny will consider drafting Moran in for the senior game away to Gibraltar on Monday, 16 October. 

“I’d say he’s been in numerous conversations with the senior team about bringing him on board”, said U21 manager Jim Crawford. “We’re just delighted to have him for this particular window.” 

Szmodics, meanwhile, is second in the Championship scoring charts and Kenny admitted he is unfortunate to miss out on this latest squad, citing continuity.

“I know he has probably played more than, say, Callum Robinson, who has only come back recently. But Callum knows exactly how we play, we’ve three days to prepare for the game against Greece and we want to make sure that everyone knows exactly where we are. I just don’t want any more changes, because we have had a lot of change. I’m not looking for any more at the moment.” 

Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 are now extremely slim, after four defeats from five games, and their hopes of falling into the safety net of a Nations League play-off now rated as a 10/1 shot. While admitting that qualification prospects were slim, Kenny says his squad must fight on. 

“Although it’s a slim chance, quite a slim chance, we still have a chance of qualifying and once that chance is there we have to fight until the end”, said Kenny. “We have to roll our sleeves up and fight. It would require Greece to beat Holland in Greece and us to win our two matches to bring it to the last game. As long as that chance is there, we must absolutely fight to do that. Speaking to the players, there won’t be any lack of motivation.” 

Euro 2028 will be the primary focus at the FAI at the start of next week, as they travel to Uefa HQ in Switzerland to have their joint bid with the UK to host the tournament ratified by Uefa’s headquarters. The FAI yesterday said the tournament will leave a “lasting legacy.” 

“I don’t see it as a negative”, said Kenny when asked about the prospect of Ireland hosting six games at the tournament. “I think it’s a positive for sure. 

“Will it help the league [of Ireland] at all? I actually don’t know. The FAI are in discussions with government all the time, at board level and Jonathan Hill as CEO. There’s a big plan as you know for all grounds to be improved throughout Ireland.

“I know there is an ambitious plan in relation to facilities. Obviously there’s a big cost factor. I don’t think it does any harm then, if the Euros are coming and football is at the forefront. I don’t think it does any harm but I can’t say with certainty that all of a sudden League of Ireland grounds will benefit from the Euros being played. I’m not. I wouldn’t claim that.

“I just felt that it’s good for the football public to experience games. Whether there’ll be a legacy from that, I don’t know enough about the inner workings of negotiations with the government in relation to funding for the stadiums. I’m not party to all of those conversations. If the possibilities exist there, the league has great potential now obviously.

“With the changes with Brexit and the challenges that brings, the need for academies to be revitalised and funded in a meaningful way. They’re not really funded in any meaningful way and players are still being produced. There’s a lot of great work going on in difficult circumstances.

“Ideally, you would see a bigger picture of negotiations between the government and the FAI, what a legacy would look like in terms of grounds around the country, linked into the Euros.”