‘I love playing for Ireland so walking away was too hard’
AHEAD of a new international year, Séamus Coleman has no intention of calling it a day with the Republic of Ireland. ‘The fire in the belly, let me tell you, is still burning strong,’ insisted the Irish captain.
At 35, Coleman is targeting Nations League involvement in the autumn where old enemies England lie in wait.
‘If things are going well for me physically I’d love to be a part of it, if selected, of course,’ he said.
Coleman is back after a 12-month injury absence armed with a message for the younger brigade before the home friendlies with Belgium and Switzerland.
‘These lads now need to step up and get a real understanding of winning games. I’ve only been to one tournament, but ultimately that’s where we all want to be, that’s got to be the aim.
‘That’s when you feel like you have really arrived on the international stage and that’s what we all crave.’
Coleman has coped with two serious knee injuries, the first in March 2017 on World Cup duty with Ireland, the second with Everton in the Premier League last May.
Each time, the lure of the green jersey drove him on.
‘In terms of coming back, it’s hard to walk away from something that you really love. I’ve always said if I felt in training back at Everton that people were skipping past me and that it didn’t feel right, I’d have to have a good, hard look at myself.
‘The games I’ve played in this year, I’ve felt good. I’ve played against some good wingers and I’ve felt good, I’ve felt strong. I’ll be honest with myself when that time comes, but for as long as I can I won’t say no to my national team, absolutely not.’
Coleman revealed he felt his career was in the balance when carted off with a knee injury last season.
‘For the first time I did think that maybe it would (be over),’ he said.
‘So I thought, “Right, we could be in real trouble here, this will be my parting act to the group”, and I tried to rile the fans up going off on a stretcher.
‘The next day when I had the scan, touchwood (I) got away with it not being an ACL. It was still a serious injury (medial ligament) but one I could come back from.’ Coleman stood tall alongside O’Shea in defence, notably on Ireland’s march to the Euro 2016 finals. His respect for the interim boss was evident yesterday, as he addressed him as ‘the manager’, never once as ‘John’. ‘When I came in as a player, the manager (O’Shea) was a player at the time, he was someone we all looked up to. For the standards around the place. I have massive respect for the manager as I’m delighted for him to get the opportunity. I know how proud he was to come in as a player, so I can’t imagine how proud he is now to lead his national team as a manager. ‘We were team mates but that goes to the side and I am doing all I can for the team and to impress the manager as best I can.’ ‘It feels different, more so for me, because I’ve been away from it for a year and coming in there’s a few younger players that I’ve not seen so it’s been good getting to know them all. ‘I take pride in trying to mentor some of them along the way like the manager did to me, like Robbie (Keane), like Damien Duff, like Shay Given — things that have stuck with me. ‘Regarding the management staff, I’ve known quite a few of them and the first few days on the training ground have been very good. The manager and his staff have been very intense with the detail.’ O’Shea has informed his players what he expects from them as Ireland seek to make a statement for 2024 after misfiring in 2023. ‘We had a quick meeting about our ideas and what we are looking for, in particular the first game, how we are going to stop Belgium and how we are going to try and hurt them as well. ‘Basically it’s to bring an energy to the week, to the camp that is focused on a mentality of winning football and finding a way to win big matches.’ As interim boss, O’Shea has tried to keep the tweaks to a minimum. ‘It was just about freshening things up for players, keeping it nice and bright, and not changing too much behind the scenes because lots of it was in a good spot.’