Mcloughlin ’keeping the faith

NOT everyone who worked under Roy Keane has horror stories to share — Ian McLoughlin benefited from his time with the fiery Corkman. Still a teenager with wideeyed ambitions of making it as a professional in Ipswich Town’s academy when Keane took over, the Dubliner found himself elevated up the pecking order. Such was Keane’s enthusiasm to give McLoughlin a break that he awarded him with a contract extension and included him in the first-team squad during a difficult period for the club. The former St Francis schoolboy never got to make his debut under the new Republic of Ireland assistant manager, but it led to sealing a move to MK Dons and kickstarting his career. Even more remarkable is that McLoughlin, who should start in today’s FA Cup first round tie against Halifax, has travelled so far, even though he was such a late developer as a goalkeeper. ‘I definitely came into goalkeeping late. I was playing outfield when I was 14 or 15 and I had a lot of weight on me. One day I went and did something about it,’ said McLoughlin, 22 (below). ‘To be honest, I wasn’t fit enough to play outfield, so I went in goal. My brother was always putting me in goal anyway when we played, but I put my head down and started to work. ‘I did well with St Francis and went on to the FÁS course and from there I had trials with Ipswich. I wasn’t the best keeper from my area, but I think that I wanted it more than them. ‘I’m happy how my career has panned out. Ipswich were very good to me and I stuck by them when other clubs were looking for me. They showed a lot of faith in me,’ he added. McLoughlin won’t be the only Irishman hoping to shine today with as many as 75 Irish players possibly in action, with MK Dons possibly supplying the most as they have Stephen Gleeson, Samir Carruthers, Darren Potter and

Shaun Williams.