Burke at start of a journey my pal John and I were honoured to take
SHAMROCK ROVERS’ Graham Burke could make his Ireland debut against France tomorrow night with Seanie Maguire injured and Scott Hogan on play-off duties with Aston Villa yesterday.
So try telling him that the match in the Stade de France is a meaningless friendly.
As a player, there was no such thing and every game I could play for my country meant something, and I am not just saying that. There was always a purpose to an international game at every stage of my career. And I loved playing in all the games.
By the time I reached 30 to 40 caps, I was often rested for friendlies because the manager – Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton or Giovanni Trapattoni – wanted to look at younger players.
Of course I’d say I understood their decision, because the friendlies had less importance and it was less advantageous for them to use more experienced players, but there was always part of me that was desperate to be out there. If I was picked for an Ireland squad, I wanted to play.
Sadly, of course, the game in Paris is not a World Cup warmup for Ireland and it is not a game we are expected to win. If France play with real freedom, we could be in for a beating but it will all be part of a learning curve for the current squad.
This is a good opportunity for Martin O’Neill to experiment and give the players experience against top-quality opposition and they just might be able to go out and express themselves.
It will be good to see Seamus Coleman back, of course, and we will get a good look at Shane Duffy, who is quite rightly the FAI Player of the Year. While he is now established in the team, he has still only played in one campaign and needs experience.
In fact, there is not much experience throughout the side and you only have to look at the strikers. Jon Walters has not played much football this season, so he is certain to get game-time, like Shane Long, but with no other strikers to choose from, this is where Burke might get his first cap.
I remember I won my second Ireland cap against Argentina and learned very quickly that I could not allow the occasion get to me again, or I would not be able to make a contribution to the team.
It was my first game at Lansdowne Road and we were playing an Argentina team that included Ariel Ortega, who was being billed as the new Maradona at the time. He was outstanding on the night, as were the rest of their side, and the game by-passed me. I did my best not to let that happen again.
The majority of my Ireland appearances were alongside John O’Shea, who will say a fitting farewell when he leads the team out against the United States on Saturday.
We all remember his equaliser against Germany in Gelsenkirchen in the last minute of his 100th game and the enormous part that played in qualification to the Euro 2012 finals.
He is an excellent footballer and one of the most decorated Irish players in the history of the game who was the first since John Giles to come through the youth system at Manchester United and become established.
That put tremendous pressure on him from such a young age, and even though he had only made a handful of appearances for United, he was in the running for a call-up to the 2002 World Cup squad and was unlucky to just miss out.
He’s talked about his regret at not playing in a World Cup finals, but he did play in two European Championships and established a superb partnership with Richard Dunne.
It’s no surprise to me that he fancies a crack at management in the future. Club owners are sometimes reluctant to give a player coming to the end of his career his first break, unless they are a name. And John certainly has the profile to get a job.
Over the years John has helped integrate many players into the squad. Without being patronising, he is just a really genuine lad who fitted in from day one and is always great to be around.
It was an honour to be in the same Ireland team as John O’Shea, we have not had many like him over the last 15 years, and I am sure he will get a deserved and genuine send-off on Saturday.