Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Talks to Cliftonville defender GARY BREEN Breen determined to help Reds get rid of their inconsistency and see Solitude club back in the frame to win major trophies
final against Liverpool in 2006. “That was a great experience,” said the former Republic of Ireland under-21 international. “Unfortunately, we had a bit of a mountain to climb as we lost 3-0 at Anfield in the first leg. “Micah Richards was being brought into the first team at the time. I remember him scoring a header against Aston Villa for the firsts and Stuart Pearce didn’t really want him playing for the youth team.
“But he came back and played the second leg and we won 2-0 at the City of Manchester. I think Sturridge scored the two goals.
“Micah was brilliant and Sturridge, without the injuries, I think he is one of the best strikers about, his finishing is just frightening.”
Breen moved on to League One side Hereford briefly after his time at Manchester drew to a close, but young, homesick and on the fringes over in England, he gladly availed of an escape route back to his homeland with Galway United.
Looking back on those days, while he harbours no sense of injustice, he reckons making it can be as much to do with getting the breaks as talent, highlighting the differing career paths of him and old teammate Ched Evans.
“It was very tough over there but I’ll never forget for as long as I live when we were playing in the Carling Cup,” recalled Breen.
“We were playing Norwich and the first team had a lot of injuries and the kitman called me and Ched Evans into the room and opened a little cupboard and our jerseys were there with our squad numbers.
“We were to be on the bench, the game was on a Monday night and on the Sunday we had a little training session and I went over on my ankle.
“I’ll never forget walking past Svengoran Eriksson. He was the manager and he asked how I was, and I was hobbling along saying, ‘No, no, I’ll be fine.’ But he ended up leaving me out but brought Ched on for the last 10 minutes and that’s when Ched really kicked on. He got a loan move to Norwich after that.
“So it is a lot about luck. Sometimes you create your own luck but sometimes it’s about getting luck too.”