Gavin Cooney reports from Republic of Ireland training, Abbottstown

WHILE ASSISTANT MANAGER Robbie Keane flew to Madrid to take in the game, the rest of the Irish squad watched last night’s Champions League final from the team hotel.

A group of ten or so players lingered after dinner to watch the first-half, after which those with more of a stake in the game returned to their rooms to get on with the business of winning or losing.

Among those in the latter camp are Preston duo Callum Robinson and Sean Maguire, who share both a room and an affection for Liverpool.

“We were going mad singing the Van Dijk song and that ‘we’ve conquered all of Europe’”, Robinson tells The42.

“It was good. I’m a Liverpool fan so I was going mad. I’m buzzing.”

Goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher last night joined an exclusive list of Irish players to win the Champions League – since it changed from the old European Cup, only Denis Irwin, Roy Keane, Steve Finnan and John O’Shea have won it – and even carved out his own, remarkable niche: he’s the first to win the competition before earning a first Irish senior cap.

Kelleher has trained with the senior squad before – he was called up by Martin O’Neill for the Wales game in last year’s Nations League – and will today leave the Liverpool celebrations to join up with the Irish U21s squad for the Toulon tournament.

“He’s a very good ‘keeper”, testifies Robinson.

“In small-sided games he was a very good shot stopper. Yeah, it’s unbelievable he’s got a Champions League medal.

“He’s so young as well, so I think he will stay around it. You’ve got to enjoy that, you’ve got to enjoy being there. That will be one of the best experiences he’s had.”

Another Irish striker, Ronan Curtis, hailed the young goalkeeper’s success. “It’s amazing. It’s amazing for a young lad like that and it will only boost his confidence.”

Like most of those watching, Robinson wasn’t exactly blown away by the spectacle.

“I didn’t care as we won in the end, but it wasn’t as exciting Liverpool/Tottenham should be. The quality wasn’t actually the best either. But I don’t think any of those boys will care because when you get that win it doesn’t matter, the game is out of your head.”

Jurgen Klopp said after last night’s final that the players were somewhat affected by the lengthy three-week preparation, but Robinson is confident Ireland won’t suffer similar issues with ring-rust.

His last game, for example, was on 5 May – meaning he and the other Championship players in the squad who were uninvolved in the play-offs will have gone more than a month without a game by the time Ireland kick off against Denmark next Friday, 7 June.

Callum Robinson. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

It was with that in mind that a friendly between the senior squad and the Irish U21s was played on Thursday. Given a paucity of midfielders – Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan only linked up with the squad yesterday, and Jeff Hendrick was given time off to attend his brother’s wedding – Robinson was forced to play in midfield. The U21s ran out 2-1 winners.

“I’m not a centre-mid, but I had to play centre-mid as we had to get minutes into the legs.

“It wasn’t about positions etc, everyone needed to get a 45 [minutes] in them. That’s where I had to get my minute. Obviously Jeff was missing, Con and Whelo too, and a few lads had to play 90s.

“To be fair they probably wanted it, we’ve had three or four weeks since the end of the season. I wouldn’t say I’m a centre-mid, but I did the best I could.

“I don’t think [we will be rusty]. That 45 is going to help us fitness-wise, and I think we are all sharp through training when we do our small-sided games and finishing.

“Training has been really tough, but in a good way to get our fitness up, and it proves we needed to get the minutes the other day, before training this week and Denmark on Friday.”

Robinson’s performances were one of the few positives from Ireland’s wretched Nations League campaign under Martin O’Neill, but he missed the first couple of Euro 2020 qualifiers in March through injury. David McGoldrick impressed in his stead, with the Sheffield United striker leaving the Aviva Stadium to a standing ovation for his effort against Georgia.

“I was really happy for him”, says Robinson.

“You want to be in, and you know your game has to be better to get back in, so I knew my performances for Preston had to be really good when I got back. It really pushes you to try and get into the squad that I’m in now.

“I’m buzzing for the boys getting the result, and it’s set us up for these next two games.”

It was a whirlwind trip to Madrid for Keane – he was back at training at Abbottstown this morning. All 25 squad members trained, with no fresh injury concerns.

The squad will train at Abbottstown until Wednesday, after which they will fly to Denmark.  They will then return home to round out the 2018/19 season with a clash with Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium on 10 June.