It’s not all doom and gloom in Irish football
FITTINGLY for the season of renewal, there are signs of hope budding into life in Irish soccer. News that the search for Stephen Kenny’s replacement has been pushed out to the start of next month was inevitably presented as the latest mess created by the FAI hierarchy.
In reality, the appointment of John O’Shea as interim head coach was a practical fall-back, long signalled, and if an impressive candidate is finally revealed inside the month, it will have been worth the wait.
The wait hasn’t been the problem, unmet expectations have. There is no issue with a stand-in handling the team for spring-time friendlies, but having a permanent manager appointed for the June matches at home to Hungary and away to Portugal gives the new man the opportunity to assess his players before the resumption of competitive action with the daunting arrival of England in the Nations League on September 7.
All of this is dependent on getting a manager who can improve on Kenny’s reign, and the crisis besetting the FAI as a result of its most recent chaotic Oireachtas committee appearance does not foster much in the way of optimism.
But there are other places to look.
In particular, check between the posts.
Caoimhín Kelleher was terrific in inspiring Liverpool to glory in the Carabao Cup, and his display has also stoked anew the discussion about what he should do next in his career.
He played his eleventh Premier League game in yesterday’s trip to Nottingham Forest; he made his debut for the club in 2019, playing his first league match in December 2020.
Eleven league matches in over three years is a fair indication of his status at Liverpool, where he understudies probably the best goalkeeper in the world in Allison Becker – and he is only getting matches now because the No1 has succumbed to a rare injury.
Since his emergence, it has been consistently argued that Kelleher needs to move to a club where he will be first choice.
It looked like it would happen last summer, while Forest tried to buy him in the January transfer window.
But just as consistent has been praise for the Corkman from Jurgen Klopp. Managers are conditioned to talk up their charges – well, the good ones are.
Klopp’s encouragement of Kelleher has never sounded platitudinous, though, and all that backing was repaid with the player’s match-defining display against Chelsea at Wembley. Everything we understand about sport points to Kelleher leaving Liverpool eventually, yet it’s equally clear just how much Kelleher will give up if he does.
There is the experience of training with Allison every day, but also immersion in title races, epic European nights, and thriving in an environment shaped by a phenomenon like Klopp.
The manager’s departure at the end of the season will see many certainties at Anfield become unmoored, though, and Kelleher could be one of the significant changes wrought by new leadership.
Wherever he ends up, he will remain in fierce competition with Gavin Bazunu for the Ireland shirt. By the end of last season, and Southampton’s relegation, he looked like a husk of the mesmeric talent that emerged at Shamrock Rovers before moving to Manchester City.
When he joined Southampton in June 2022, the fee paid by the club was reported to be £12 million.
Last season curdled into an extended misery, however, as he lost his place while the club plummeted, and he played under four managers in little more than a year.
This season, he has been back in the team, excelling as Southampton play a vibrant style and went on a 25-match unbeaten run.
Bazunu has the unstinting faith of Russell Martin, the manager who has inspired their recovery.
‘If I hadn’t had those trying and testing times, I wouldn’t be in the position I am now,’ Bazunu said this week.
It was a measured take from a man who only turned 22 three weeks ago, but it’s also a reflection of the individual.
Two such athletes competing for one position is in no way reflective of the talent spread elsewhere, but the story of the national men’s team is not one of unremitting misery.
Tendrils of hope break the gloom.