Brady desperate to put his World Cup woe behind him

ROBBIE Brady is desperate to put a testing year behind him as he prepares to make his first Republic of Ireland appearance since his World Cup dream went up in smoke 12 months ago.

Brady was part of the team which travelled back from Denmark in November last year with a foothold in their play-off showdown with the Danes after a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen.

But their hopes of a trip to Russia were torn apart by a 5-1 defeat in the return in Dublin and worse was to follow for Burnley midfielder Brady within weeks when he suffered a knee injury which sidelined him until the end of October this year.

Three games into his comeback with the Clarets, he will hope to pull on the green shirt for the first time since that dark night at the Aviva Stadium against Northern Ireland tonight, and he cannot wait to do so with a Nations League trip to Denmark looming four days later.

Brady said: “That hurt that bit more. We’ve made hard work for ourselves before and we made hard work of that one.

“I thought we started quite well in the Denmark game, but then to be turned over the way we were at home...

“That was my last game. I sort of left on a sour note, so hopefully now that I’m back and the lads have gelled that bit better, hopefully we can put some good results together.

“You just have to learn. It was a very disappointing night and we’ll be looking forward to putting it right over the next few games and next couple of campaigns.”