SAMMIE SZMODICS MADE a lasting impression as an U10 player with hometown team Colchester United almost 20 years ago.
“It made me realise I never wanted to coach nine-year-olds,” Joe Dunne says.
A Dubliner, from Inchicore, who spent seven seasons as a defender with the club over two spells, Dunne joined the academy when his playing career came to an end in 2003.
That is when Szmodics was pointed out to him as one for the future.
“He played with so much energy and enthusiasm. He was everywhere, he was relentless and never stopped. You couldn’t take your eyes off what he was doing,” Dunne says.
Nothing has changed in close to two decades since Dunne eventually became senior team manager at Colchester and gave Szmodics his debut in English football.
“He played then like he plays now, like a Duracell Bunny. But the thing with Sammie is you could see his quality. His timing of runs and ability to find space to get a shot away in the box, he had something different to other kids his age.”
His attitude also set him apart and, such was his desire to make an impression after earning his first professional contract, the teenager skipped the traditional lads’ holiday that summer so he was primed for pre-season.
“He didn’t take a single day off,” Dunne says. “He was in the club every day and doing extra outside. He did double the training programme that was set for him.
“But after 10 days of pre-season he was knackered. We had to give him a break. But that’s Sammie. Roy Keane talks about character and personality in footballers, Sammie has it all in abundance. You want him there beside you.”
A broken ankle curtailed some of his early progress at Colchester and when a loan move to non-league Braintree Town was suggested to kick-start his career, Szmodics jumped at the opportunity.
“Again, that’s Sammie. Always willing to get on with it and prove what he can do,” Dunne says.
Even with a Dubliner as a mentor and the FAI’s London-based scout Mark O’Toole in regular contact with Dunne, they had no clue about Szmodics’ eligibility through his Longford-born grandmother.
“His parents were great. Very respectful, very quiet and just loved watching their son play. Colchester is a tough place and they let him do his thing. I called him Sammie Smithwicks for a laugh, but if we knew he was Irish, I’d have made sure the FAI did too.”
They knew when he eventually joined Peterborough United and Stephen Kenny began the process of drafting him once his passport was sorted out. Suggestions of declaring for Hungary because of his grandfather also lingered.
Peterborough owner Darragh MacAnthony — another Dubliner — thought he had secured a deal to bring Szmodics to his club in 2019. “It was all done but then Bristol City nipped in and paid more to get him,” MacAnthony recalls, but within a year, Szmodics had joined the League One club on loan.
“What can I say about Sammie except he’s just a wonderful character. Honestly, he is a star because he is the type of player you’d never have seen this coming but he will always keep going and prove people wrong.”
Peterborough paid £1 million to sign him permanently in 2020 but by early 2022 he was looking to go out on loan again as he wasn’t playing regular football. “I refused to allow him leave because I didn’t want to diminish his value as an asset,” MacAnthony says.
Manager Darren Ferguson departed in February of that year, replaced by Grant McCann, and the former Northern Ireland international helped get the best out of Szmodics by giving him a freedom in the final third.
“I don’t actually think he will ever grow up from a personality point of view because he loves to be in the thick of the action and having fun, but as a player he is only getting better as he gets older,” McCann says.
“He loves playing football, he works so hard for you, and if you give him the ball, you see he’s still a big kid with a big heart who wants to win.
“He has an infectious personality and character around the place. He is the life and soul of a dressing room but is also the one setting standards.
“As a forward he gambles, he take risks and is never standing still. He times his runs into the box kind of in the same way as Frank Lampard did.
“He deserves everything he’s getting now because he’s worked for it all. And he’s got a heart of gold.”
They are traits that are evident in the Republic of Ireland dressing room now.
In a week when new manager Heimir Hallgrímsson and his staff, assistant John O’Shea and coach Paddy McCarthy, have been preparing for England’s visit on Saturday, Szmodics is a player instrumental to their plans.
For Hallgrímsson, it is Szmodics’s directness in and out of possession that has already caught the eye. That understanding and ability to be part of a compact defensive unit will be crucial.
In transition, one of the strengths throughout his career, it is that willingness to be positive and take players on, allied with his quick-thinking and pace, that is seen as important for Ireland to cause England problems in the final third.
Szmodics made the breakthrough into the Premier League this summer with a move to Ipswich Town for what’s understood to be a £10 million fee.
Last season’s top scorer in the Championship – 27 goals, 30 in total, with a message sent to him from club legend Alan Shearer for good measure – then scored on his full debut in the English top flight away to Manchester City.
He turns 29 at the end of this month, has four Ireland caps, and his emergence has been in the making since he was that U10 player who caught Dunne’s eye.
The only thing missing now is a goal for Ireland, something he can put right against England on Saturday.
