IT’S A CLICHÉ to praise Irish players for their ‘passion’ and ‘never-say-die attitude,’ yet these descriptions for once seem genuinely apt when applied to Richard Dunne.

While there have probably been more talented Irish defenders in the sport’s history, Dunne’s level of commitment to the cause was surely unsurpassable.

This zeal was evident right up until the last moments of his Ireland career. Only last May, following his man-of-the-match performance in QPR’s triumphant Championship play-off victory over Derby, Dunne spoke with great enthusiasm about Ireland’s upcoming Euro 2016 qualifiers.

“I’ll be available after the summer,” he told RTÉ Sport. “I’d love to be included in September, I’d love to play again.

“We’ll just see how it goes over the summer and see what the manager decides.

“I spoke to Martin O’Neill before the Serbia friendly in March and we had a chat, so he knows the situation.”

Clearly, in the two months since then, Dunne has had a change of heart, and feels better off closing the door on his international career.

The presumable pressure from manager Harry Redknapp to commit fully to QPR would not have helped, particularly given the additional competition Dunne faces as a result of the club’s recent signings of Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker at the back.

So perhaps ultimately, logic prevailed over passion. Dunne will be 35 in September and would be nearly 37 by the time the next Euros rolls around. While there is the occasional Mario Yepes or Rafael Marquez, defenders seldom last so long playing at the highest level for their clubs, let alone their country, while another injury could spell an end to his Premier League career, and prompt QPR to release him from his contract, as Aston Villa eventually did after he aggravated a niggling injury while on Ireland duty at the 2012 Euros.

Moreover, in that same aforementioned interview, Dunne said: “49 games now I’ve played this season — it feels more like 100 at the moment.”

So perhaps, with the eurphoria of his side’s play-off win behind him and the prospect of another long, hard season ahead of him, amid the unique pace and intensity of the Premier League, Dunne has belatedly decided to take what many would adjudge to be the sensible decision from his perspective. And while he may look back on an Ireland career that contained far more than lows than highs, it was not for the want of trying on his part.

The 34-year-old’s career at international level started promisingly. He played an integral role in Ireland’s 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign, featuring in the home and away matches against Holland and Portugal.

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(A young Richard Dunne in action against Portugal in 2001)

He was somewhat harshly left in reserve for the subsequent tournament proper, with Mick McCarthy opting for the more experienced duo of Gary Breen and Steve Staunton instead.

Dunne gradually made himself undroppable thereafter however, emerging as one of the Irish team’s most important stars, and being one of the few players to continually distinguish himself amid the largely disappointing Brian Kerr and Steve Staunton managerial tenures.

However, it was under Giovanni Trapattoni that Dunne truly attained legendary status in most Irish fans’ eyes. As the team writ large ostensibly grew weaker as the years passed, the irrepressible centre-back seemingly compensated for such flaws by delivering a series of increasingly exceptional displays in the green jersey.

This sustained period of excellence culminated in Dunne’s famous defensive masterclass, which was primarily responsible for Ireland improbably escaping their Euro 2012 qualifier against Russia in Moscow with a clean sheet and a point. Consequently, the Irish fans rubbed their eyes in disbelief, Paul McGrath described it as “the best I have seen from any Irish centre half,” and thus, a legend was born.

Of course, there are bound to be sceptics who will question whether Dunne was a truly great centre-half, particularly as his Irish career since that display in Moscow has been, quite frankly, a damp squib for the most part, with the former Home Farm schoolboy player as disappointing as the rest of his Ireland teammates in the summer of 2012 in Poland.

Yet it’s important to remember that Dunne was playing in a very limited Ireland team, who were adopting a style of football that was deeply flawed. Had he been in his pomp two decades ago, he would surely have been one of the stars of the Charlton era.

Indeed, the Irish player whose career trajectory that Dunne’s most closely resembles is Paul McGrath. Both were talented, natural defenders, with an occasional tendency to be ill-disciplined. Both were unfortunately let go from a big club on the brink of success (Man United and Man City). Both probably played their best football at Aston Villa, and both enjoyed Indian Summers at smaller, bottom-half Premier League clubs (QPR and Derby).

Some may suggest Dunne’s club career was disappointing compared to the heroic performances he regularly put in at international level, yet four consecutive Player-of-the-Season awards at Man City in addition to being included in the PFA Team of the Year for the 2009-10 campaign are achievements that can’t be easily dismissed, irrespective of the lack of major trophies accompanying them.

Therefore, in the annals of Irish footballing history, alongside McGrath, Lawrenson and O’Leary, we can now write Dunne — a rare example of a worthy heir to the throne of these eminent past greats.

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