FIVE NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS THAT NEED TO BE KEPT
1 OVERSEE AN IRELAND REBUILD
Several stalwarts have squeezed as much as they could from Ireland’s call, but their races are run. By the time of the Euro 2020 finals, John O’Shea will be 39, Wes Hoolahan 38, Daryl Murphy 37, Glenn Whelan and Jon Walters 36. O’Neill needs to unearth younger green shoots and the proposed tour to the United States next summer could offer opportunities for the likes of Declan Rice, Kevin Long, Matt Doherty, Aiden O’Brien, Ryan Manning, Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan.
2 FIND A FORWARD WHO KNOWS WHERE THE GOAL IS
With nine goals, James McClean, a winger, is Ireland’s top scorer under O’Neill. It’s a telling indictment of the dearth of a half-decent penalty box predators to fill the void left by Robbie Keane. Shane Long is not the answer, Daryl Murphy’s time is almost up while O’Neill has had a tiff with David McGoldrick. Perhaps Seán Maguire could step up as he was handling the demands of the Championship admirably before injury struck prior to the play-offs, where he was missed. A fox in the box striker, Maguire may need to play alongside a target man to thrive.
3 LEARN FROM MISTAKES AGAINST DENMARK
Every manager is entitled to a bad day at the office and O’Neill had a ’mare against the Danes. Everything he tried bombed, the starting XI, midfield diamond, the half-time changes. From the outside looking in, the most alarming aspects of the collapse was the lack of attention paid to defending Danish corners, and the room afforded to Christian Eriksen, who was allowed to run the show in the second half. It was a rare collective off night for Ireland under O’Neill, made worse by the occasion of a highprofile World Cup play-off. Every day is a school day, even in football management.
4 TAKE THE UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE SERIOUSLY
Few in football have got their head around this new competition but, as it offers a route to the finals of Euro 2020 against teams of your own level, it can’t be dismissed. The draw is on January 24 and Ireland will play four games in League B in September and October next. If they top their mini-group, they’d be a huge step nearer to the finals. However, the play-offs don’t take place until March 2020, by which time everyone will most probably have forgotten what happened earlier.
5 SHOW MORE COMPOSURE UNDER FIRE
Twice in the World Cup end game, O’Neill stormed off during post-match interviews with RTÉ’s Tony O’Donoghue. His tetchiness with questions that were firm but fair was a PR own goal and gave the impression of a prickly character who doesn’t take kindly to interrogation when results back-fire. At 65, and with almost 1,000 games as a manager on his CV, O’Neill should know by now that irrespective of the outcome, media crossexamination comes with a job that pays €1m-a-year. A wee charm offensive wouldn’t go amiss.