Plenty for O’Neill to ponder as attention turns to Russia
FOR the first time since the Republic of Ireland swatted aside Bosnia Herzegovina in the playoffs last November, Martin O’Neill’s next press briefing won’t be Eurodriven.
When he tethers his reins at the Horse & Jockey Hotel in Tipperary on Friday, there will be little chat of the craic in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille or Lyons last month.
Instead, it is the rocky road to Russia that matters now, with tricky trips to Belgrade, Chisinau and Vienna between September 5 and November 12 which could determine Ireland’s World Cup fate.
O’Neill is around the block long enough to be wary of basking in the after-glow of the French connection between the Irish public and the national team.
The World Cup is a new ball game, one which will challenge O’Neill and his players, in a way the Euros couldn’t.
For starters, only 13 teams from Europe will join hosts Russia at the finals, with nothing for the third-placed teams to squabble over.
In contrast, the top-heavy Euro 2016 table groaned with ten more qualifiers.
Secondly, Ireland last reached successive tournament finals when they completed the Euro ’88-Italia ’90 double under Jack Charlton.
Of the managers who followed Big Jack, Mick McCarthy and Giovanni Trapattoni each qualified for one tournament and were walking wounded soon after.
McCarthy quit before his Saipan tan wore off, while Trapattoni lingered on a lifesaving machine before the FAI flicked the switch.
Ask any manager and they’ll tell you that a pat on the back is never that far away from a kick in the backside — as O’Neill knows from painful experience at Sunderland.
Armed with a new improved contract, the challenge for O’Neill is to ensure Ireland end 2016 as they started it; on a qualification high.
With three of the first four Group D games away from Dublin and less wriggle room for dropping points, O’Neill can’t afford a sluggish start in Serbia.
Arguably, he began prepping for the World Cup during the Euros when he nudged John O’Shea and Glenn Whelan to one side against Italy, while promoting Shane Duffy and thrusting Robbie Brady into midfield.
Of his other vets, Robbie Keane got a couple of early cameos while Shay Given was rooted to the bench.
It remains to be seen if we’ve seen the last of the gnarly warriors, three of them centurions but considering the pool of talent is so shallow, O’Neill has little to gain by retiring anyone.
If the players decide enough is enough, that’s a different matter.
Four years ago, Richard Dunne was persuaded by Trap to saddle up for one more go, while Damien Duff declined to turn after bowing out on 100 caps.
Of the senior citizens, Given is least likely to be needed for the World Cup as ‘keepers are never subbed unless injured and he may find himself behind Darren Randolph, Kieren Westwood and the returning Rob Elliot. At 40, Given owes Ireland nothing.
As for O’Shea, he said his position ‘would sort itself out’ after the Euros. It has, in the sense that Duffy is suspended for the Serbia game and O’Neill will need the 35-year-old centre-half in the bear-pit of Belgrade.
O’Shea’s influence in the team has grown under O’Neill as he has thrived on the responsibility of captain and is also less prone to error than other contenders.
What O’Neill intends to do with Keane is perhaps the most intriguing question to ask in Tipperary on Friday.
The Irish record-breaker is raging against the dying of the light and intends to play for another two years in the MLS which should keep him sharp. With so few strikers around, O’Neill may feel there is a benefit of keeping Ireland’s top goalscorer on emergency call.
Of all the 30-somethings in the squad, the position of Jon Walters may most concern O’Neill. Approaching 33, Walters squeezed an extra year out of Stoke on contract talks last November. Did that come with a trade-off where Ireland were concerned?
O’Neill will fervently hope not as a fully-fit Walters can be a rallying figure and was hugely influential in qualifying for France. Another vet, Wes Hoolahan, shouldn’t be discharged yet from Dad’s Army either.
The boys in green are getting long in the tooth — Ireland were the oldest squad in the Euro finals — but no one ages that much in three months.
For O’Neill, a spry and lithe 64year-old, it all kicks off again in 50 days. Tick tock.