David Sneyd

LINCOLNSHIRE IS A little over 4,000 miles from Doha.

This weekend, if you’re not in Qatar for the World Cup final, everywhere else in football feels a million miles away.

But the world keeps spinning for those on the relentless hamster wheel that is England’s Football League.

Dubliner Seán Roughan is on that treadmill with Lincoln City in League One, an away trip to Cheltenham Town later today – weather permitting – the latest test in a season that has seen him overcome one injury-plagued campaign to set an appearance record in the third tier.

The 19-year-old left back is the only player under the age of 20 in the division to play more than 1,000 minutes so far – 1,001 to be exact.

“Anything can change in football, in an hour, a day, a week, a month. You always have to be prepared for what can come next, for what can happen to you or change in the club. You never know. Everything can be going well, or everything can feel like it’s going against you, but it never stays that way,” Roughan says.

That sense of perspective is not hard to understand given the battles he had already faced before 2021 was decimated by quad and ankle injuries, the latter leading to surgery in London.

“Coming through that made me realise I won’t shy away from tough moments in my life,” he adds.

After not being taken on by Bohemians for the U15 National League, Roughan joined his local side Phoenix FC. When he impressed there, a trial with Leeds United was secured, during which time others became aware of him.

When a deal with the Elland Road club never materialised, Lincoln made their move. What sealed it was their willingness to hire an Irish tutor so Roughan could sit his Leaving Cert while based in the UK.

Once Covid-19 hit the youngster found himself in a new country as the world went into lockdown. Education, he admits, was not top of his priority list, which is why he is grateful to his mother, Charlotte, for being the driving force on that front.

“Even though it’s not that long ago I still needed so much growing up to do to realise why staying in school was important,” Roughan continues.

Anything can happen in football, but when you get that chance first to come over here you don’t think like that. You only want to know the good stuff that can happen.

“But then you see people having to quit football because of medical issues, there are injuries, not being in a manager’s plans. Football won’t last forever, so down the road if I want to go to college I will need to have those grades behind me.

“But having the best career I can, and doing everything I can myself to have it, makes me want to push myself as hard as possible to achieve it.”

At the start of this season, Roughan, who has played for Ireland at U17, 19 and 21 level, set himself a goal of reaching 50 senior career appearances. If he features in Lincoln’s next three games – which on current evidence is very likely – he will achieve that target before the new year.

Part of the reason why the milestone of 1,000 minutes feels extra special is because last year he had to win a battle with his body – a period he only got through because of the emotional and practical support of his mother.

Roughan in action for Drogheda earlier this year. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

“She is all about fitness. It is 24/7 with her. She opened up her own gym in Ashbourne after working with Aer Lingus for 20 years because it was a passion that she always had,” Roughan explains.

“When I was having surgery on my ankle she came over and helped me by just being there, then when I was recovering she was on me constantly to do my exercises, and the same with food. She makes sure I’m doing things right and not slacking.

“I’m so proud of her for what she has done with the gym, that was her passion and an ambition for her in life to do and that same ambition is in me, I think. I have that inside me for wanting to achieve in football.”

A loan spell with Drogheda United for the first half of the 2022 League of Ireland Premier Division season also helped fuel the fire, providing the kind of platform which he insists was crucial to his understanding of what’s actually required to survive in the game.

“I couldn’t run properly the year before and had to do so much work to get myself right, so then to come to Drogheda and be part of a man’s dressing room where you had to deliver performances to get a result, it did me the world of good in so many ways.

Being in a match needing to win, or get a draw, or just not to concede a goal. When you are dealing with pressure after pressure after pressure and how you cope with that, how you get through it and overcome it, that is what you begin to learn. Understanding how to get through those tough moments and periods in games matters when you are young.

When fellow Dubliner Mark Kennedy took charge at Lincoln this year, if offered Roughan another challenge to overcome, as well as an opportunity. His new manager – another technical left footer in his day – has made one-on-one sessions a regularity after training.

But when he scored his first professional goal against Everton U23 in the Papa Johns Trophy earlier this week, it wasn’t just Kennedy in his thoughts.

“I feel like he’s put a lot of faith in me and you want to show that it’s worth it,” Roughan says. “But that goal was for my grandad Michael. He died in 2011 and I remember growing up watching football with him all the time, he always did things with me and I always said I would score my first goal for him.”