WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR HEADING FOR GLASGOW
Scotland may have been outstanding so far, but...
BACK IN Ireland for a few days, spending some time with my dad Farrell around his old stomping ground, and there’s one question on everyone’s lips: ‘Can you get us a ticket?’ From the moment I landed for yesterday’s 56-mile Sea2Summit race, people have been asking how they can get their hands on a ticket for Friday’s showdown with Scotland at Celtic Park.
Everyone was talking about it, whether it was the kids at my old man’s school on Achill Island, or the 300-plus who turned up for the quiz night at Tom Bourke’s in Westport... when they weren’t taking the mickey out of the quizmaster’s accent (and that includes my own family)!
I can’t remember such a buzz about an Ireland game for a long time and it has been building since the draw. Everywhere you look there are stories and connections to keep journalists happy for weeks, not just in the final few days before the game.
We’ve got Martin O’Neill and Roy and Robbie Keane back at Celtic Park, taking on O’Neill’s Celtic successor Gordon Stra- chan. Then there’s Aiden McGeady and James McCarthy playing against the country of their birth, plus John O’Shea marking his Sunderland team-mate Steven Fletcher.
Although Poland have the outstanding result by beating Germany, Scotland have been the standout team of the group so far.
They played really well in Germany and were unlucky to lose out to a sloppy goal. They were fantastic against Georgia, and while it was only 1-0 it could easily have been four or five. They created seven or eight great chances.
To get a 2-2 draw against Poland, upbeat from the win over Germany, was a great result too, so we are playing a good side, who will have a fervent support behind them.
Gordon Strachan has done a brilliant job to make Scotland a force again and he must take a lot of credit for creating a buzz around the squad.
He’s getting the best out of his players, but it helps that he has good players. The squad has improved considerably since the Berti Vogts era and so has the manager.
He has 10 Premier League players to choose from, and some of them are playing very well, like Steven Fletcher, Charlie Adam, Steven Naismith and Hull’s Andrew Robertson, who has really impressed me since his move from Dundee United.
The Ireland squad which qualified for the 2002 World Cup had two players for every position, and I see similarities with this Scotland squad, and our own.
CELTIC PARK is certain to add extra spice for the Ireland players. They all support Celtic. I know they were always my Scottish team. Robbie Keane might get stick for saying that he supported every team he played for as a boy, but it’s true in Celtic’s case.
Robbie, Roy and Martin have all played their part for the club in recent years. And so has McGeady, who might not get such a warm welcome.
As we know, McGeady and McCarthy are going to get a hostile reception. To say the least.
Aiden pointed it out when I interviewed him a few weeks ago, and James mentioned last season that the pair of them have been getting stick at Scottish grounds since they were young boys. I hope they relish it and thrive on it.
And expect Robbie to feed off it too because this game is made for him. He is the highest international goalscorer in Europe who is still playing. We should be cherishing him like other countries do.
Look at Germany and Miroslav Klose. They didn’t want him to retire and we should be like that with our captain.
It’s good for us that LA Galaxy are in the MLS playoffs because he will come full of life, goals, confidence and good form.
I know it was Gibraltar, but I thought he looked sharp in that game and his goals were not straightforward. No one could have played that role against Germany better than him.
This game is going to be tight. There will not be many chances. But if one falls to Robbie, then he’s going to take it.