Mission must be to get to Moscow so captain can lead his side out
As Seamus Coleman recovers from a double-leg break after that horror tackle, the squad must not lose focus
IT is hard to be positive after witnessing the horrific injury suffered by Seamus Coleman on Friday night but the aim for the rest of the Republic of Ireland squad now must be to ensure they qualify for the World Cup Finals so our captain can lead us out in Russia next summer.
It is a bad injury and, as well as being a huge blow at this stage of his career, he will be an enormous loss to the Ireland squad having developed into our most consistent performer for the last five years.
It will still seem too raw for Martin O’Neill and the majority of the Ireland squad. Most of us who watched it will still be coming to terms with the loss of our skipper even today but the focus will be back on the qualifying campaign in June and keeping on track for Russia is all that Seamus will want.
When he first came into the Ireland squad, like all new, young players, he was quiet and kept his head down and he just wanted to learn and develop. He certainly worked hard on the training ground and what struck me very quickly was that he was in that mould of player who wanted to become a better footballer and wanted to listen and learn. His attitude has always been first class.
And he is a great pro. Since he went over to England from Sligo Rovers, he has worked really hard and become one of Ireland’s most dependable players and outstanding talents. Obviously, when he first broke into the Ireland squad, it was impossible to predict what sort of career Seamus would have and whether he would be as successful as he has been. But with that hardwork ethic and good League of Ireland background, he was always going to have a chance.
David Moyes sent him out to Blackpool on loan and he played on the right-wing there initially, so Moyes used him in that position too occasionally when he went back to Goodison. When he was left out of Euro 2012 by Giovanni Trapattoni, most of us felt it was the wrong decision and he should have been with the squad for the finals in Poland. Seamus didn’t. I remember speaking to him afterwards and he said Trapattoni made the right decision because he probably wasn’t playing well enough, or regularly enough, and he wasn’t ready.
It says so much about him and his level-headed, understated nature that, even privately, he didn’t make a fuss or criticise the manager.
He turned it into a positive to try and improve himself and quietly did so to become a squad regular. In the last five years he has developed into the best right-back in the Premier League and one of the greatest fullbacks Ireland has ever produced.
He was the perfect captain for Martin O’Neill because he leads by example and I think we all felt that he was the correct choice.
These days, you don’t really see captains in the Tony Adams, largerthan-life mould who might spend 90 minutes ranting and raving at their team-mates. Players tend to lead by example now and Seamus does it perfectly and has really grown into the Ireland captain’s role.
In the pre-match team huddles, you can see that Seamus is prepared to be a voice. He’s assured in his own performances and ability and is prepared to stand out in the group as a leader, which comes from the experience of being a regular Premier League and international footballer.
He is quiet but people probably said the same about me when I was a young lad. But over time of course you become comfortable in your environment and how you interact with people. With experience you gain the confidence to express yourself and he has added to his persona and grown in stature. Neil Taylor’s challenge was an absolute shocker. At the time, the RTE directors were, quite rightly, not prepared to show the replays of the incident because it was so bad. They did later and it was a terrible tackle.
At the time, I thought Seamus was perhaps too quick for Taylor but the Welshman had time to pull out and avoid hitting him with such force. I’ve heard that he’s ‘not that type of player’ but it doesn’t matter. I cannot condone what he did.
Every footballer knows, when he walks on to that pitch, that he is taking the risk that he can suffer a serious injury at any second and it might come from something completely innocuous.
Sometimes, you just lose your head in a moment, and that’s what happened to Neil Taylor.
It was a poor game, littered with errors. Wales had a good spell just after half-time, Gareth Bale had a couple of efforts from distance and Ireland didn’t really have enough quality in the final third. Wayne Hennessey didn’t really have a save to make and our best chance was probably the shot from James McClean which was just deflected wide. I don’t think either side played particularly well and a draw was about right.
Bale had a couple of moments but, by and large, he was disappointing too, which was down to the way we defended around him, through a collective effort and responsibility, rather than going man-to-man on him. He will be sorely missed by Wales when they go to Serbia in June, which could do us a real favour in the second half of the qualifying campaign. And it could have been even worse for him because Bale should have been sent off for the late challenge on John O’Shea. It was high and it was late and, like Taylor, he could have pulled out. O’Shea was fortunate that his left leg was in the air and clearing the ball at the time of impact.
I have no idea how Bale could protest his innocence, when he should have been shown a red card and the idea Wales could appeal against his yellow card is laughable.
We would all have taken joint top, four points ahead of Wales and Austria at the halfway stage but I am sure there will still be plenty of twists and turns in the months ahead.
Although they got the job done eventually, Serbia discovered on Friday night that it’s not easy going to Georgia and our game there in September, just a few days before we meet the Serbs, will be crucial.
But it is the games against our other three rivals which will dictate who qualifies from the group, and whether Seamus and the rest of Ireland will be in Russia next year.