THE DARK NIGHT RISES
Ireland defender Keogh insists current crop can turn it around after Wales loss puts O’neill in the crosshairs
RICHARD KEOGH believes Martin O’neill’s track record means he deserves the chance to manage Ireland into the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
All the focus in the aftermath of Tuesday’s home defeat to Wales – a result that all but means Ireland will be among the third seeds when the Euro 2020 draw takes place in Dublin in December – is on O’neill’s future.
But despite the fact the Republic have only won once since last November’s World Cup play-off – beating the USA at home in a summer friendly – O’neill looks certain to be the man in the hotseat when those qualifiers start in
March.
Keogh (left), who captained the side in the absence of the injured Seamus
Coleman in this week’s couple of Nations
League games as well as the friendly in Poland last month, insists the dressing-room is behind the 66-year-old.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” said the veteran centre-half. “I think the manager has done a fantastic job here.
“His track record proves that, not just with Ireland but at club level as well.
“He’s had a magnificent career, he has given a lot of us in that dressing room memories forever. A lot of that is down to him.
“I think if you ask any player in that squad we’re all fighting for the same thing. We enjoy playing for him, so the manager is very good and I see no reason for that to change.”
Nevertheless Ireland’s last competitive victory was the World Cup qualifier in Wales last October.
Since then they gone five competitive games without a win. Yet Keogh remains confident that qualification for the Euro 2020 finals – which will include fixtures in Dublin – is within this squad’s reach.
Why? “Because I have been involved in a group that has qualified for the Euros so I know what it takes,” replied the 32-year-old.
“I know what this group can do, I can see why the manager is saying that (Ireland can qualify) as I’ve been involved in a group where people didn’t really fancy us to qualify from. But I am pretty sure that when we get players back, and with the group we’ve got, we have a really good shot at doing that.”
And Keogh stresses that there are extenuating circumstances that haven’t helped Ireland’s cause.
“International games at this level are difficult, the way the games go it’s like a chess battle, a tactical battle and it’s whoever blinks first,” he said.
“There are things with this group...we lost some big characters who retired, but if you think about it we’re missing some massive players.
“[Robbie] Brady is a very influential player for us, James Mccarthy, Seamie Coleman. Shane [Long] has done well for us but he’s not been fully fit.
“You get all these players back and we are a different team, I think once we get them back we are a different animal.”