Brady rolls back years to show O’Shea he still has an Ireland future
The man from the northside of Dublin, schooled at the nursery of St Kevin’s Boys and a loyal servant of his country, was told in the most public and brutal manner that, with Ireland, his time was up.
Jack Charlton’s decision to call Liam Brady off the pitch after just half an hour of a friendly in Dublin was low point for a proud international career.
There was no such public execution for Robbie Brady, who followed the pathway of his namesake Liam from the orange shirt of their Dublin schoolboy days to the green of the national team but 12 months ago there was a hint that his Ireland race was run.
Brady wasn’t in Stephen Kenny’s original 26-man squad for the friendly with Latvia and the qualifier at home to France, but was then called up as a late replacement for the injured Callum O’Dowda. However, a snub followed as Brady didn’t make the match-day squad, denied the comfort of a seat on the bench so he had to watch from the stands.
Ireland played 10 games last year and Brady didn’t see a minute of action, as 2023 came and went as 2022 had finished, Brady travelling as a non-playing sub for a friendly in Malta.
Kenny repeatedly stated that no player was ruled out of his plans, with longtime exiles like Jeff Hendrick and Darren Randolph still being considered for selection, technically at least.
When he got the job in 2020, Kenny took it upon himself to ring up every player who’d been in previous squads, meaning that even Alex Pearce – who, in reality, was never going to be capped again – got the courtesy of a phone call.
Likewise, even when Brady was omitted from squads and teams, Kenny reiterated his stance that the Dubliner was in his plans, just not far enough up the ladder in terms of fitness or game-time to merit consideration.
Upon his appointment, Kenny was a big admirer of Brady: an unused sub in Kenny’s first game, Brady played in every one of the next 10 matches, until an injury against Qatar in Hungary forced him off and it would be 18 months before he’d start for Ireland again.
Injury and an inability to regain the form which made him the hero of the hour in Lille in 2016 did back up Kenny’s policy of exclusion: this season, Preston have played 37 league games but Brady has started just nine. Last term he racked up 24 starts and 10 sub appearances, but spent a long time emerging from the injury nightmare which saw him play just seven league games (for Bournemouth) in a 16-month spell from March 2021 – that Qatar game – to July 2022.
Contribution
Yet Brady emerged as one of Ireland’s better players in Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Belgium. Squad rotation and an urge to see more players like O’Dowda and Festy Ebosele could see Brady rested for tomorrow’s game with Switzerland but in his contribution against the Belgians, Brady has served notice. He’s back.
It was the 32-year-old’s free-kick which set up the chance that led to the penalty which Evan Ferguson missed and he also claimed an assist for Ferguson’s other chance, a headed effort which was off target but there was nothing off-target about Brady’s cross.
In selecting his squad and his decision to recall Brady, John O’Shea said he wanted to counter the inexperience of the youthful central defenders in the form of the nous that full-backs such as Brady, Séamus Coleman and Matt Doherty could offer. And so it proved.
“That’s what we spoke about in terms of me mentioning the three centre-backs, the age profile, and then obviously the wing-backs that we had starting,” O’Shea said of the formation where the central axis of Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea and Andrew Omobamidele (average age: 24) had the protection of Coleman and Brady (average age: 33).
“The key thing for me is Robbie would have been in squads if he’d been fit and playing or involved. That was the thing. Obviously, he just picked up a bad run. But now he is getting a good run of fitness, getting a good run of being involved in every game. If he’s not starting every game, he’s playing every second one.
“I know the kid from a long, long time, I know his ability, I know his personality for the group, and it was going to be a big help this week.”
Brady wasn’t just a mascot brought in to give life lessons to rookies like Jake O’Brien, Ebosele and Mark Sykes. O’Shea spotted that he’d something to contribute on the field as well as in team meetings – and Brady delivered.
He could also offer an option from dead balls which has been so lacking. Previous Ireland managers were blessed with talents like Denis Irwin and Ian Harte, who were not only comfortable when presented with a free-kick or a penalty but relished it.
The Ireland side of the last decade has not really had dead-ball specialist bar Brady, and it showed.
Since a Brady strike from a free kick in a 4-0 win over Oman back in 2016, the only Ireland goal that came direct from a free was Conor Hourihane’s winner at home to Georgia in 2019. Brady has delivered key goals for Ireland, saving blushes at times. His injury-time goal was the difference between the sides when Ireland faced Armenia in Dublin in the Nations League in 2022 and his goal (also in added time) gave a much-needed coat of gloss to an otherwise insipid display at home to Gibraltar under Mick McCarthy.
O’Shea’s call to bring back Brady was not a favour for an old comrade but a clever decision which has paid off for both.
And just as Glenn Whelan was written off by Martin O’Neill and then rescued from the scrap heap by McCarthy, so too has Brady earned a recall and a rewrite of an international story which appeared to be at its end. Brady bunched? Far from it.