Johnny Ward

OXFORD’S TEAM BUS was somewhere between Fleetwood on the west coast and its destination further south when Luke McNally, a star defender in a team that prefers to attack, asked his goalkeeper Jack Stevens to watch highlights of a game from the League of Ireland played the night before.

McNally, 6’4″, has come a long way but his thoughts are often about the road travelled.

“I had the Shamrock Rovers-Pat’s game on the phone,” the 22-year-old tells The42, “and he watched it with me. I was asking him what he thought of the standard and he thought it was very good.

“Pat’s were playing out, Rovers were pressing. It was football. When I was growing up watching the League of Ireland, it wasn’t like that and you can see the improvement. It’s getting closer.”

Tonight, the pair take on MK Dons and Troy Parrott at Grenoble Road, all desperate to reach the Championship, Oxford needing victory for that to be even remotely likely. And their fans are already resigned to losing Luke McNally.

The Ireland career many predict he will have was hardly written in the stars. As a kid growing up around the Meath-Kildare border in Enfield, he loved being “a nippy corner-forward playing Gaelic football.

“My body filled out when I got older. As a kid I was small and quick. I hit a growth spurt around 14, a proper one.

“In first year, I was smallest in the class. By sixth year I was up with the tallest. My father is tall so I suppose it was likely to happen.”

His Enfield Celtic days ended with a move to Drogheda United. He played for the club’s under-17S before moving to St Patrick’s in March 2017, playing with Jake Walker and Brian Maher among others, before being loaned out to Drogheda.

And it was under Tim Clancy and Kevin Doherty that people began to take notice of a gangly teenager with unlikely pace and a knack of scoring goals. McNally finished his first full season with 37 appearances in all competitions, scoring nine despite his defensive role.

“It was good introduction to senior football under a really good manager. Tim put trust in me and let me get on with it. It worked out really well. It was my first taste of men’s football, crowds and all; I absolutely loved it. I wanted more.”

McNally returned with a growing reputation to Inchicore as Stephen O’Donnell tried to build in a shortened, pandemic-curtailed season. McNally is at once confident and humble; he believes in himself but also feels he could have done better.

“At Pat’s, in hindsight, you could see that we were building something, though at the time I was really disappointed with the year: it was a brilliant team and I thought we underachieved.

“It was very exciting even without crowds. Playing in Tallaght against Shamrock Rovers meant a lot to a guy who had come through League of Ireland underage.

“I was disappointed with (my season at Pat’s) really. I would have liked to have done a lot better but I can’t complain either as I showed enough to get myself to England.”

McNally reckons Pat Hoban had something different to the other strikers he faced as a youngster at Saints but he “didn’t fear him at all” and “never really came off the pitch and thought anyone was too good for me.”

His former managers here rave about him. According to O’Donnell, he “has all the attributes”. As for his pace, McNally’s dad, a big fan of the horses, would like O’Donnell’s description of “like watching a Group horse on the gallops”.

Luke McNally during his St Pat's days. Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO Brian Reilly-Troy / INPHO / INPHO

Clancy feels he can “do very, very well in his career” and it’s perhaps telling that both of them keep tabs on their former defender.

“Tim is like a father figure, Stevie was a bit tougher on me. I enjoyed both: the challenge of trying to impress Stevie but Tim having the arm around the shoulder.

“They’ve different qualities but I think you will see the two of them rise to the top and probably go to the UK.”

He was closing in on a move to Oxford, where former Liverpool youth academy coach Karl Robinson would give him his first chance and a three-and-a-half-year deal.

“He’s completely different again. Really tactically aware. Puts a lot of thought into tactics. Real motivator was well. Some of his pre-match speeches will get you going, fire in your belly.

“He’s given me my first chance in England. A lot of lads will have to fight harder than the English lads: coming from the League of Ireland you have to prove yourself more. I am very grateful for the chance.”

McNally wasn’t long making an impression. Fellow defender Sam Long called him “a machine” as early as last summer. Even though he plays in a side that both scores and concedes a lot of goals, Oxford fans tell me he’s destined for another level.

When clubmate Mark Sykes was called up to the Ireland squad for the recent games against Belgium and Lithuania, McNally was curious – envious but proud of the Belfast boy.

“Oxford has gone very well I think. I knew I was good enough. I’ve shown that I am well-able. I am only 22. I am trying to build up experience, enjoying the moment and getting on well with everyone.

“Of course Ireland is definitely an ambition. It’s always been a dream but now it is a goal rather than a dream. Stephen Kenny is a smart man. I am sure he knows Irish players in League Two and the Conference. He knows everyone.

“If you look at the centre-backs we have in this country, we just keep producing them. You probably have to get yourself to the Championship as a centre-back to get near that team at the moment. That’s how I look at it.

“Absolutely I like how they play. It is refreshing, they pass the ball more; you can see the confidence in the group, the camaraderie. It is a really exciting team, it is great to see young lads get the chance.

“I was disappointed Mark didn’t get on because I think he would have shown that there really is a good player there.

I asked him how he got on and he loved it. He said they were really good lads.”

A recent Twitter montage of McNally’s long stride on the ball – anomalous for a centre-back – went over his head but it’s easy to see why Kenny would relish him in the Irish back three in time. McNally reckons over the last 20 yards in a sprint nobody beats him at Oxford.

“It’s interesting to watch the way Ireland play and think maybe I could do what them lads are doing. If I keep doing what I am doing, hopefully one day it will come. I don’t put any pressure on myself. I was watching us and it is really exciting – that right of the back three would be brilliant.”

Before that, there’s the last-ditch promotion attempt, and links with a move to a higher level. Spurs have been mentioned, perhaps without much foundation, but others will surely materialise.

“It was mad to read the Spurs story to be honest. I was just about to get on the bike before training and someone sent it to me. I don’t look too far ahead, keep level headed, focus on this season and see what comes along. You can’t let that stuff get in your head. I have two years left in the summer. There is no rush with me.”

So it’s MK Dons tonight – Parrott, Conor Coventry and Warren O’Hora – before a potential test of McNally’s much-vaunted pace when they visit Rotherham and Chedozie Ogbebe on Saturday.

His dad will stay around for the game tonight but his mother, who has little interest in football, headed home after a visit this weekend – but not without leaving him some Clonakilty black pudding.

“It’s good to test yourself against Troy. He’s in the first-team now so I’m looking forward to seeing where I’m at really – I can’t wait for it.”