VETERANS ARE SO VITAL

JAMES MCCLEAN and skipper Seamus Coleman have been hailed as inspirational leaders by Callum Robinson.

And the young forward is relieved that Mcclean is fit for today’s clash with Georgia as the Derry man (above) is the old dog for the hard road that Ireland can turn to.

Mcclean had been troubled by a back injury and missed Stoke’s win at Swansea at the weekend.

And he was forced out of Monday’s training session with Ireland and then trained away from the rest of the squad on Tuesday.

But he has been back in the swing of things since Wednesday and is raring to go now.

Mcclean, set to win his 69th cap, is one of the players that Robinson looks up to since breaking through last year.

“You have to respect everything Jimmy has done for the country,” said the Sheffield United striker.

“He is a role model for attacking players. If you look at his stats – his running stats came up on Instagram – they speak for themselves.

“That’s what he brings to the team and it really helps us progress.

“He’s scored some really important goals over the past few years too and hopefully he can keep that up and we can qualify.”

Robinson also revealed how skipper Coleman has helped him to settle into the squad on and off the pitch.

“He’s been unbelievable and probably more so off it for me. He has a good blend of being serious when he needs to be and working hard, but still having that time to have a joke and laugh. So it’s not all serious, because if you’re serious 24/7, lads would be ‘Come on’.

“But since Thursday and Friday, you can feel it in the skipper that it’s game mode.”