ACTUALITE |
25.05.2002
Irish need traditional pluck to bring World Cup chickens home to roost
Ireland have over-achieved at both their previous World Cups thanks to superb team spirit, luck and pluck.
And with their only world-class player Roy Keane sent home in disgrace they will need those qualities more than ever if they are to make an impact this time round.
Should they require any reminder of those qualities, they need look no further than manager Mick McCarthy, lanky striker Niall Quinn and centre-back Steve Staunton, all of whom played a large part in Irish football`s greatest adventure as they reached the quarter-finals in 1990 under `Saint` Jack Charlton.
"We knew the sum total of our parts were not immense but Jack pulled us together and motivated us to such an extent that we came to believe we could beat anybody," Quinn commented.
"We even went into the quarter-final against Italy believing that we could beat them because our team spirit was so good... sadly that was not enough," he added.
However that squad was blessed with the talents of another world class player in Paul McGrath, dodgy knees and all, which virtually ruled him out of training but never held him back on the field.
One senior Football Association of Ireland (FAI) member was in no doubt that McCarthy faced a serious battle to engender the same results without Keane after his departure from the squad on Thursday.
"Roy was always a problem child and perhaps his leaving will solidify the team spirt which is good, but at the same time you still require a little bit of extra class in the team if you are to go further," he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The next 10 days are really going to test Mick`s mettle and his ability to bounce back from such a scene.
"He has already proven he has guts by overcoming the doubts when he took the job and was known not to be the first choice for the job by growing into the post and becoming a bona fide international manager... now he has to go that extra mile," he added.
No-one showed more of that pluck than David O`Leary back in the second round tie with Romania in 1990 - as is the norm with the Irish, the match fizzled out into a draw at the end of extra-time and it came down to a penalty shoot-out.
O`Leary, who had fallen out with Charlton although not so violently as Keane with McCarthy, was sent on as a late substitute but he failed to realise quite the role he would find himself in... taking the decisive spot kick.
"It was no secret that Jack and I weren`t on good terms and it was a surprise when he sent me on as I had given up hope of playing," O`Leary said.
"When it came to the penalties Jack left it to us to sort out who would take them and I came down as number five, which I`m sure wouldn`t have been the case if he had been choosing the players.
"I was mildly surprised as I had never taken one before but I was told by Andy Townsend `just go up there and blast it` and that`s what I did - and the rest is history!"
Ireland won 5-4 on penalties only to lose 1-0 to Italy in the quarter-finals.
Four years later Ireland got their revenge as they downed mighty Italy 1-0 in the first match thanks to a Ray Houghton shot which looked spectacular but was anything but in design.
"I saw the keeper off his line and went for it but I mishit it truth be told... still, we deserved it," Houghton said.
As the fallout continues from the Keane affair McCarthy is set for a real challenge to get the team`s mindset right for the crucial opener with Cameroon on June 1 in Niigata but FAI general-secretary Brendan Menton was in no doubt it would be alright on the night.
"We have a lot of other good players and strange things happen," he said.
"This could prove the catalyst to unify the squad."
All of Ireland will be hoping so.
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