Versatile Williams offers a little extra
“I just want to play and show what I can do”
ANUMBER of good things have happened to Irish football on German turf, which is something not every European nation can claim.
In 1994, Ireland stunned Germany 2-0 in Hannover before the World Cup finals; in 2008, the first World Cup qualifier, against tomorrow’s foes Georgia, was played in Mainz, while John O’Shea famously grabbed a late equaliser against the world champions in Gelsenkirchen in 2014.
It was in Hamburg, early in 1993, before those momentous events, that Derrick Williams was introduced to the world.
Son of a US serviceman and an Irish mother, Williams grew up in Tramore and if he hasn’t hopped around The Metal Man yet, he’s as Déise as O’Shea, Goodwin, Murphy and Hunt.
He’s also eager to add to his solitary senior cap, which he won on a rainy night in Paris against a French side bound for World Cup glory in Russia.
‘It was one of the best nights of my football career. I will never forget the moment that my name was called out and then stepping out there.
‘It was not the best of games but I felt that we did alright because they were the World Cup champions a few weeks later.’
Williams may not be the bestknown Irish player on Euro 2020 duty, yet his pedigree is strong, as he’s won two promotions to the Championship since 2015, the first with Bristol City and the second with Blackburn Rovers, his current club.
He’s chalked up more than 250 games since opting to leave Aston Villa in the summer of 2014 and his career graph is headed the right way as he seeks to impress Mick McCarthy in the Euro 2020 endgame.
Williams was ‘gutted’ at missing out for squad selection in September but McCarthy had four fully fit centre-halves to pick from and felt he didn’t need a fifth.
Since then, circumstances have changed and Williams, with 11 games in his legs this season, is perfectly placed to offer McCarthy options at centre-half, his preferred position, or left-back.
With Enda Stevens suspended for the crucial qualifier against Georgia here tomorrow, Williams is being considered by McCarthy as a left-back option.
‘Mick said to me he knows that I prefer to play as the left sided centre-half but that I might have to do a job at left back,’ said Williams.
‘I said that I am more than happy to. I just want to play and try and show him what I am capable of doing. One of my goals this season was to get a solid place in this squad. I don’t want to be on standby like I was before, so here’s my chance.’
‘Before the France game I was playing really well and that was why I played. I want the same now, to make sure I am at it in training so in the manager (McCarthy) is thinking, “Maybe I can trust him”.
Any trepidation at being involved? ‘No. My first game was against France so you could say that that was the deep end against the future World Cup champions.’
It has helped Williams settled that he is familiar with a number of players from his Irish underage days, and at club level.
‘I know a lot of the lads, that’s what made it a easier when I first came in, I played with Jeff (Hendrick), John Egan, Matt (Doherty), Shane Duffy, Enda (Stevens) from Villa, which made it easier.
‘I knew Callum (Robinson) from Villa. I am good friends with him. We played in the same youth team. He’s younger but played up.’
It was at Villa where Williams came under the tutelage of Kevin McDonald and Tony McAndrew, recently cited for bullying youth players at the club.
Williams wasn’t one of them, and he regarded both men highly. ‘They were a bit old school. If you did something wrong, they’d tell you. I thought that was perfect for me.
‘And that’s what made my step to leave easier because when I went to first-team football and someone gave me a b ******** g, I was used to it. You know it’s never personal. They got me ready for first team football,’ he said.
‘I owed them a lot, not only for the player I am but the man I am today. They were really good. I enjoyed playing for them both. I was gutted for them.’
When the squad was released last week, Williams was one of three Blackburn boys named by McCarthy but last Saturday, Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham were injured in the first half against QPR.
‘It was a crap day, as we lost and those two got injured. The lads are gutted.’
Lenihan is a centre-back, Cunningham a left-back, while Williams can do both, and that is a plus ahead of Group D battle.
The new doting dad to daughter Nola might just be the right man in the right place for the Tbilisi trenches.