Meyler: Danish pasting the beginning of the end

IT SHOULD have been the pinnacle of his sporting life.

Instead, it was the moment which effectively ended the international career of David Meyler, the Cork-born midfielder who has been forced to admit defeat in his battle with a long-standing knee problem and has retired from the game at the age of 30.

“After a few hard days of thinking I have decided to retire from playing professional football. The injuries I sustained to my right knee have eventually caught up with me and I am left with no other option,” Meyler said.

The 5-1 loss at home to Denmark in the World Cup play-off was the moment that it all began to unravel for Martin O’Neill and while he managed to hang on in the role for another 12 months, O’Neill was, really, a dead man walking in terms of the top job after the Danes tore Ireland apart in Dublin.

But that night also cast a cloud over Meyler which he could never shrug off.

Ciaran Clark had captained the Irish side for the first leg of that play-off, a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen, but O’Neill changed things around for the home leg with the armband passed on to Meyler.

It made sense at the time, as Meyler had a perfect record (two games, two wins) from his earlier experiences as captain.

But the night was a disaster. Meyler was taken off at half time, Ireland of course would lose 5-1 and miss out on the World Cup, and Meyler’s Ireland career was put into cold storage: he did not start a game or play in a competitive international subsequently, a pity as Meyler had played a role for Ireland, particularly as an emergency full-back in the Euro 2016 draw in Germany.

Meyler had reached some dizzy heights after leaving Cork City in 2008 (104 Premier League games, for Sunderland and Hull) but a 2018 move to Reading was a disaster, Meyler on the bench for loan club Coventry City for a spell.

He left Reading earlier this summer before his contract was up and after mulling over his future, has quit.

Former team-mate David Forde, who also retired this summer but at the age of 39, had sympathy.

“I was lucky in that I got 20 years out of it. They say now you are lucky to get seven or eight years as a professional, so to get 20 years I am blessed and it’s sad to hear that about David,” Forde said.

“I remember when he wore the armband for the first time, when Martin O’Neill gave it to him, he was walking around like he was ten feet tall. He will find something to transition into, but it’s not an easy time.”