Time is right for SOS call to McGoldrick
ON Match of the Day last Sunday night, former England striker Alan Shearer compiled a clip comparing Harry Kane and David McGoldrick after Tottenham beat Sheffield United 3-1.
Shearer made a point about how Kane was on a half-turn as he received the ball in an advanced position, from which he scored. McGoldrick wasn’t quite aligned like Kane and his shot was blocked.
That McGoldrick was getting such exposure on BBC’s flagship programme was intriguing. He scored against Spurs, and might have had two more against Jose Mourinho’s men.
In a blunted Blades team that has managed just 10 goals in 19 Premier League games this season, McGoldrick has scored five times, twice against Manchester United, the others against Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal. All decent sides.
In comparison, last season it took McGoldrick until the 36th game out of 38 to get off the mark in the Premier League for Sheffield United, whose push for Europe ran out of juice when they lost their final two games.
At 33, and playing better than ever, the attacker is crucial to Sheffield United’s waning hopes of avoiding relegation from the top tier.
Watching his close control, crisp passing, movement and all-round ability to pose problems for elite international defenders was a reminder of how much he will be missed by the Republic of Ireland on the World Cup trail.
Since his shock international retirement on November 4, McGoldrick has scored four of his five Premier League goals and is thriving at a club where so much has gone awry.
He’s clearly enjoying his football and perhaps now might not be a bad time for Ireland manager Stephen Kenny to pick up the phone, congratulate the striker on his form, and suss out how things are going.
As it stands, McGoldrick is the No 1 Irish forward crossing the white line almost every weekend — he’s started 13 games, and figured as substitute four times this season.
He’s streets ahead of everyone else in terms of craft, experience and, crucially, goals.
Of those in the Premier League, Callum Robinson of West Brom has bagged two goals in 18 games (12 starts), Brighton’s Aaron Connolly also has two goals from 11 appearances (seven starts), while Southampton’s Shane Long has yet to score after 11 games (one start).
In the Championship, James Collins leads the way with six goals for Luton in 21 games (19 starts), Seanie Maguire of Preston has three goals in 20 appearances (13 starts), while Norwich City’s Adam Idah has one goal from seven games (one start). Just as he was missed for the November games, McGoldrick is needed for the World Cup opening qualifiers in March away to Serbia and home to Luxembourg.
Kenny is desperate for someone to put the ball in the back of the net, to convert chances and give the team a lift. Quite simply, McGoldrick is the best man for the job.
Kenny has nothing to lose by asking him to consider coming out of retirement, even for the first two games upon which so much hinges.
Perhaps Mark Kennedy, strongly linked to the coaching vacancy in Kenny’s cabinet, could play his part. The Dubliner was a coach at Ipswich when McGoldrick was flying at Portman Road under Mick McCarthy from 2013 to ’18.
So many top players have done international u-turns, among them Henrik Larsson, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi and Zlatan Imbrahimovic. None of them said they regretted their return.
McGoldrick is a family man who had always intended to leave the international stage, according to Kenny, when Ireland’s Euro involvement was over.
If Ireland had survived the play-offs, he’d be signed up until the summer. As it is, he can look forward to a decent break.
Might he be persuaded to sign up for one more international window, to try and add to his solitary goal and remind Irish fans why he was the 2019 Player of the Year?
If so, Kenny would be a lot less anxious about boarding that Belgrade flight. For the price of a call, he has nothing to lose.