‘European adventure trumps final goals’
McMillan says the pressure’s off
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DAVID McMILLAN reckons the pressure is off Stephen Kenny in the Euro 2024 qualifiers — and that the tough draw could work in Ireland’s favour.
Kenny famously got the best out of his Dundalk players, including McMillan, when they came up against some top sides in Europe.
They were the width of the woodwork away from taking points off Zenit St Petersburg home and away in 2016. In that Europa League campaign, they beat BATE Borisov, almost turned around a 2-0 deficit against Legia Warsaw, secured a draw against Wout Weghort’s AZ Alkmaar and picked up a historic win over Maccabi Haifa. In each of those matches, Kenny’s men were underdogs, just as Ireland will be when they face France and the Netherlands this year.
“I think the Irish squad is probably not as filled with quality as it has been in the past and has made his job tougher,” said McMillan.
Talent
“But he will never say that. He will big up his players and say they are the best in the world.
“We don’t have our Robbie Keanes guaranteeing goals and that makes it difficult. “The good thing is we’re seeing even more young talent coming through, the likes of Joe Hodge making appearances in the Premier League. Obviously Evan Ferguson too.
“Hopefully that can all build and help us towards what are going to be tough fixtures in the qualification phase.
“I’ve got a season ticket now so I’ll be there at the games, supporting them all the way.” McMillan added: “I just think it’s time to back him and give him the chance to go at it. “I’m sure he would have wanted a better draw then we got for the qualification campaign coming up.
“But maybe that pressure off a little bit, people not expecting us to qualify might help us pull out some good results.
“I want him to be as successful as ever, but you are at a different level and it’s been difficult.”
With 14 European goals to his name, McMillan has scored more in continental competition than any other League of Ireland player.
So he knows striking potential when he sees it.
And in former Bohemians youngster Ferguson, he reckons Kenny has a real talent on his hands.
“He’s made an amazing impact,” McMillan said of the teenage Brighton man.
Attribute
“I’ve not played against him. Speaking to Wardy (Keith Ward) last year who trained with him a little bit (at Bohs), he said he had every attribute, his size and stature.
“For a kid who was so young at Bohemians he said he had everything. We are starting to see that.
“It’s great to see him get the opportunities and score goals as well. He’ll be a huge huge plus for the Irish team.”
With pre-season well underway in the League of Ireland, 34-year-old McMillan is without a club — and he is in no rush to find one either.
He is busy working in an architecture company — Tea Lane Architects — that he set up with his brother Dane.
“I’m enjoying the break, to be honest. I’ve half a mind to retire and half a mind to see what’s out there. No real decisions have been made,” he said.
“I don’t feel under pressure to make announcements or anything like that. If I finish playing, I finish playing.
“And if I want to keep playing Leinster Senior League or something like that, I might,” he admitted.
“Realistically, financially it would have to be strong to stop what I’m doing. And footballwise it would have to be something that would peak my interest.
“That combination probably hasn’t arisen just yet. There have been some interesting offers, but nothing that has quite gotten over the line.”
DAVID McMILLAN says playing European group-stage football trumps his FAI Cup final hat-trick.
The former Dundalk striker netted a treble in the 2020 decider against Shamrock Rovers.
However, reaching the group stages twice with the Lilywhites — and playing the likes of Zenit St Petersburg and Arsenal — is at the top of his highlights reel.
“I got a text recently that said, ‘Hat-trick in the cup final or Europa League group stages?’, and I said, ‘Group stages’,” McMillan revealed, as he spoke at the draw for the Collingwood Cup.
“Maybe I was fortunate to have so many cup finals, it was a parallel success that the team had. Maybe if I played only one cup final, I might say differently.
“I think going to the European venues that we had, the journeys we had, that was just unbelievable and probably something that you hardly even aspire to at the start of your career, to go and do that. “So yeah, I think that was
the pinnacle probably.
Lost
“Especially because we did so well in 2016 to come out of the group, to get that far and do so well, and to show ourselves so well was probably the highlight.”
He added: “Beating BATE in Tallaght that night was probably the highlight of them all.
“Playing the Legia game that we lost, in the Champions League qualifier, it’s kind of nearly forgotten about, you talk about BATE.
“The game against Legia was probably a highlight even though it ended in defeat, the stadium, the atmosphere, unbelievable.”