“WE DON’T WANT LUKAKU AND MIRALLAS BEATING US”
With the experience of victory over Germany, past FA Cup glory and inside info on the Belgians to call upon, Everton’s James Mccarthy fears no one – not even Roy Keane
What will it mean to you, representing the Republic of Ireland at a major tournament? It will be a dream come true. You grow up watching these tournaments, and to be going there is a huge achievement for every one of us. Obviously, the memory that sticks out from when I was a kid is watching Robbie Keane score against Germany at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. I was a youngster at the time, and it’s those sort of things that you dream about being a part of in the future – playing in competitions like this.
You reached the play-offs from a group that included Poland and world champions Germany. What was the highlight? That night we won against Germany at home. Obviously, that was a really big deal. We had defended well and didn’t give them many opportunities to score. They only had a couple of half-chances. And then Shane Long scored the winner – and what a finish it was as well. It was some night – definitely the best that I have been involved with in the national team. The atmosphere was epic all game.
How much confidence does the team take from managing to beat the world champions in a competitive qualifier? We got a point over in Germany, too, which was a good sign. We want to do as well as we can in this competition. Of course we will be underdogs in the group, as expected, but everyone in the squad knows that we have to go over there and achieve something.
You mention that you’ll be underdogs in France – what was your reaction to being drawn in the so-called Group of Death? The teams we have in our group make for a very tough task, but I am excited and I think each and every member of the squad is, too. It’s going to be a tough group but we aren’t worrying, or overthinking it – we’ll go there and give it our best shot.
You’ll face a couple of your Everton team-mates when you play Belgium. Have you spoken to them about it? We said a couple of things when the draw was made – there were a few jokes between myself, Seamus [Coleman], Rom [Romelu Lukaku] and Kev [Kevin Mirallas]. We were just winding each other up, but we don’t want them getting one over on us when we meet in Bordeaux.
What’s the atmosphere among the Ireland squad like, going into the tournament? It’s a good squad to be involved in. We have a good group and everyone is really close. Then you’ve got the manager [Martin O’neill], his assistant [Roy Keane] and his backroom staff. It’s a chilled group away from training, but when we train, we work hard.
Does Roy Keane ever relax, or is he always as intense as he appears from the outside? Yeah, he gets involved when we’re having fun. Obviously, for us midfielders, it’s good to learn from someone like Roy; he’ll drill you before the game and in training, which is great.
How much of a difference does it make to know you will have thousands of Ireland fans in France who have travelled there to give you such great backing? It makes a huge difference. All of our matches will be on neutral ground, so it gives you that extra boost seeing the Ireland supporters and hearing the atmosphere before the game.
You won the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic in 2013, defying the odds to beat Manchester City 1-0 at Wembley. What one thing do you need to succeed as underdogs? You always need to believe that you can win. We’ll go into the group as the underdogs, but we need to believe that we can go to the Euros and make a big impact on the tournament.