WHEN MARTIN O’NEILL was appointed Ireland manager, some Irish fans rightly had some reservations.
Which O’Neill would we get?
The 64-year-old had recently departed Sunderland, with the side just one point above the relegation zone, having gone eight games without a win.
Everything on Wearside had gone stale.
The team looked rigid and the players devoid of confidence. Eerily similar to the squad that Giovanni Trapattoni left behind.
His successful spells with Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa, began to look like a distant memory. In an era of high pressing and possession-based football, the Derryman’s style looked out of place.
O’Neill in some quarters, was becoming an increasingly irrelevant manager.
But a key part of his success with Ireland can be pinpointed to his appointment of Roy Keane as his assistant. When Keane speaks, people listen.
It was a mark of O’Neill’s intelligence, as he was instantly able to see the bigger picture – something that paid divdends after Ireland’s 1-1 draw at home to Scotland, a result that put the country’s place in Euro 2016 in jeopardy.
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“You wouldn’t believe the disappointment I felt,” O’Neill told the Times. “You have more time to think about it as an international manager.
“Our next game was September. It was terrible. You have to be mentally strong because you start listening to people — journalists and what have you — saying it’s time for a change.
“The evening after the Scotland game the two of us grew even closer. We don’t normally eat together — I must be excruciatingly bad company — so I usually sit and suffer on my own, but Roy and I were really tight.
“He was very good. He said, ‘This isn’t over’.
“Roy was buoyant. He reminded me that you can’t get dispirited. He looked at the fixture list and said, ‘We’ve got Gibraltar away, Georgia and Germany at home — we can win those.’
“We had enough games to pull it around. His positivity, I recognised it and felt it. I never feel Roy is anything else. He could not have had his career without being so mentally strong.”
The Ireland manager celebrates Shane Long's winner against Germany. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
Earning the praise of the country’s fomer captain, would no doubt, also be a driving force for a group of players who grew up idolising him. After Ireland were knocked out of Euro 2016 by France, Robbie Brady highlighted the impact Keane and O’Neill have had on the Irish squad.
“I think they’ve installed something into the team,” Brady said. “They’ve installed belief and having us organised and wanting us to play a certain way and I think that’s shown here.”
Former players too, are never slow to heap praise on O’Neill either, with John Hartson hailing his former manager as a “genius”, when speaking about their time together at Celtic.
“The result against Germany, the result against Italy, your win against Bosnia – only Martin produces these types of things,” the former Hoops striker said. “I think he’s incredible – what he demands, what he gets out of every single player.”
Even though Trapattoni guided Ireland to their first major tournament in 10 years when Ireland qualifed for Euro 2012, big wins at crucial times against difficult opponents still evaded the Boys in Green under the Italian.
During the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup for example, Ireland only managed to pick up two points in the four matches against rivals Sweden and Austria, while losing to an aggregated 9-1 score to Germany.
Indeed, since the Keane-inspired win over Holland in 2001, Ireland had failed to beat a higher ranked team in a competitve match until last year’s memorable win over world champions Germany.
The October night that rocked the Aviva Stadium, has proven not to be a one-off.
A convicing win over a seeded Bosnia and Herzegovina side followed, before the dramatic night in Lille against Italy. With the win in Vienna tonight, now putting Ireland in a dream position in their World Cup qualifying group.
The stats show that O’Neill has transformed the mentality of this team, if not every aspect of their performances, but there is now real belief that has been slowly cultivated in the Irish setup, with four massive wins in 13 months.
Big tests are still to come and hard work remains to qualify for Russia, but Ireland with O’Neill can continue to defy the odds and qualify for their first World Cup in 16 years.
The man who some judged to be out of the loop of modern football, has shown he still has that magic touch.
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Opinion: O'Neill's magic touch has Ireland producing big results again
WHEN MARTIN O’NEILL was appointed Ireland manager, some Irish fans rightly had some reservations.
Which O’Neill would we get?
The 64-year-old had recently departed Sunderland, with the side just one point above the relegation zone, having gone eight games without a win.
Everything on Wearside had gone stale.
The team looked rigid and the players devoid of confidence. Eerily similar to the squad that Giovanni Trapattoni left behind.
His successful spells with Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa, began to look like a distant memory. In an era of high pressing and possession-based football, the Derryman’s style looked out of place.
O’Neill in some quarters, was becoming an increasingly irrelevant manager.
But a key part of his success with Ireland can be pinpointed to his appointment of Roy Keane as his assistant. When Keane speaks, people listen.
It was a mark of O’Neill’s intelligence, as he was instantly able to see the bigger picture – something that paid divdends after Ireland’s 1-1 draw at home to Scotland, a result that put the country’s place in Euro 2016 in jeopardy.
“You wouldn’t believe the disappointment I felt,” O’Neill told the Times. “You have more time to think about it as an international manager.
“Our next game was September. It was terrible. You have to be mentally strong because you start listening to people — journalists and what have you — saying it’s time for a change.
“The evening after the Scotland game the two of us grew even closer. We don’t normally eat together — I must be excruciatingly bad company — so I usually sit and suffer on my own, but Roy and I were really tight.
“He was very good. He said, ‘This isn’t over’.
“Roy was buoyant. He reminded me that you can’t get dispirited. He looked at the fixture list and said, ‘We’ve got Gibraltar away, Georgia and Germany at home — we can win those.’
“We had enough games to pull it around. His positivity, I recognised it and felt it. I never feel Roy is anything else. He could not have had his career without being so mentally strong.”
Earning the praise of the country’s fomer captain, would no doubt, also be a driving force for a group of players who grew up idolising him. After Ireland were knocked out of Euro 2016 by France, Robbie Brady highlighted the impact Keane and O’Neill have had on the Irish squad.
“I think they’ve installed something into the team,” Brady said. “They’ve installed belief and having us organised and wanting us to play a certain way and I think that’s shown here.”
Former players too, are never slow to heap praise on O’Neill either, with John Hartson hailing his former manager as a “genius”, when speaking about their time together at Celtic.
“The result against Germany, the result against Italy, your win against Bosnia – only Martin produces these types of things,” the former Hoops striker said. “I think he’s incredible – what he demands, what he gets out of every single player.”
Even though Trapattoni guided Ireland to their first major tournament in 10 years when Ireland qualifed for Euro 2012, big wins at crucial times against difficult opponents still evaded the Boys in Green under the Italian.
During the qualifying campaign for the 2014 World Cup for example, Ireland only managed to pick up two points in the four matches against rivals Sweden and Austria, while losing to an aggregated 9-1 score to Germany.
Indeed, since the Keane-inspired win over Holland in 2001, Ireland had failed to beat a higher ranked team in a competitve match until last year’s memorable win over world champions Germany.
The October night that rocked the Aviva Stadium, has proven not to be a one-off.
A convicing win over a seeded Bosnia and Herzegovina side followed, before the dramatic night in Lille against Italy. With the win in Vienna tonight, now putting Ireland in a dream position in their World Cup qualifying group.
The stats show that O’Neill has transformed the mentality of this team, if not every aspect of their performances, but there is now real belief that has been slowly cultivated in the Irish setup, with four massive wins in 13 months.
Big tests are still to come and hard work remains to qualify for Russia, but Ireland with O’Neill can continue to defy the odds and qualify for their first World Cup in 16 years.
The man who some judged to be out of the loop of modern football, has shown he still has that magic touch.
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