As far back as I can remember I wanted to play for the Republic of Ireland.
Most of the team that lost in Armenia on Tuesday feel the same. Most of them but, clearly, not all of them.
The difference between now and then is Euro 88 and Italia 90 happened in my formative years. The current players had Euro 2016. Kids today have Yerevan and whatever else is to come.
The problem with getting to do something you love – like being a professional footballer – is the expectation that inevitably follows. People pay their hard-earned money to see you play. Nobody should accept the sorry excuse of a performance handed in by Ireland in the first half against Hungary last Saturday or the ineptitude on display in Armenia.
Maybe the energy reserves were empty on arrival in Yerevan after battling to score a 93rd-minute equaliser against Hungary.
Still, the lack of organisation on Tuesday was galling.
Watching the game unfold, I remembered how Roy Keane and Richard Dunne used to deal with counter attacks by players like Tigran Barseghyan, Eduard Spertsyan and Lucas Zelarayan. Then I remembered what Gary Breen and Mark Kinsella used to do when an Ireland midfield was being overrun.
Markers were laid down. I know that is not a solution to every situation.
We all know the problems facing Irish football are systemic and that they have multiplied since Euro 2016. But there is one guiding principle when it comes to playing for Ireland, in any sport, or even for your GAA club in the championship. It is ingrained in the national psyche: stop your opponent from dominating on the ball.
At the very least, a few yellow cards should have been collected. The men I played alongside would have been more concerned about the reaction of Richard and Roy to them not doing their job than anything the Armenians could do to them.
Put it this way, I wasn’t the greatest winger or midfielder the game has ever seen. There were plenty of times when I came up against a right-back or a number 10 from another galaxy. If you are not licking your lips at the chance to get stuck into Lionel Messi or Zinedine Zidane, you have no place being out there.
Professional pride would kick in. I’d get closer to Barseghyan and Zelarayan before they started looking like Messi and Zidane. The mentality was uncompromising: you will not be able to live with the shift, up and down this wing, that I will deliver for 90-plus minutes.
When Armenia took control in midfield, the players and manager did nothing that I could identify to wrestle it back. The “back six” sat off and let Zelarayan have the run of the place.
Besides Caoimhín Kelleher and Evan Ferguson, the Ireland players lacked the backbone that is required to avoid humiliation in a green shirt.
It is alarming how far Heimir Hallgrímsson’s team was off the pace in these opening World Cup qualifiers. He said the dressingroom was “very quiet” after losing 2-1 in Yerevan. I know the feeling. In 2006 we went to Nicosia and lost 5-2 to Cyprus.
I’ll never forget who fronted up in Dublin four days later against the Czech Republic. That was one of the hardest games we ever had to play. We were ashamed. Dunne was suspended for two yellows cards in Cyprus, but I’ll always remember the other players who were suddenly unavailable.
You need balls to show up and play for your country.
Nathan Collins, the captain, tried to immediately turn the page on Tuesday night by talking about beating Portugal in Lisbon next month as the “be all and end all.”
Nobody is buying that. It would be infuriating if this team somehow took three points off the Portuguese after being dominated by a country ranked 105th in the world.
Something fundamental is broken when a squad and management of this calibre are lucky to avoid shipping five or six goals against Armenia. Ireland are blessed to have Kelleher but we have to stop codding ourselves. This living-in-hope stuff is getting the team nowhere.
The current assistant coach, John O’Shea, also played that night in Nicosia, and he showed up against the Czechs. I’d trust John’s judgment on players. If the management stick with Collins and Dara O’Shea in defence, and if Josh Cullen appears in midfield again, then I presume there is nobody better than them right now.
That said, it would be foolish for Ireland to keep doing whatever it is they trying to do under Hallgrímsson. Jack Taylor as a second striker with Adam Idah on the bench? Matt Doherty at left back? Jason Knight chasing shadows? Come on now.
Only Ferguson and Kelleher came out of the opening qualifiers with their reputations intact. Ferguson scored twice, but he would have four goals only for brilliant goalkeeping by Dénes Dibusz and Erik Piloyan heading his chip off the line.
Without Kelleher’s shot stopping, Hungary would have led 3-0 at half-time. Ireland were lucky that Roland Sallai lost his head and got sent off. Really, the Hungarians dropped two points.
What happened on the pitch, in between goalkeeper and striker, should never be accepted by the 50,000 fans who paid through the nose for tickets last weekend. If The Green Army votes with their feet, the FAI will need another bailout. Irish football is living through precarious times.
Hallgrímsson’s sole task as Ireland manager is to qualify for the World Cup. He immediately warmed to the brief with statements about resting key figures ahead of next summer and hiring an athletic trainer from Spain who specialises in keeping players sharp at major tournaments.
After Tuesday’s debacle, all this talk from the manager makes everyone look like fools. Not just Hallgrímsson for spouting such nonsense, but the rest of us for swallowing it.
Ireland have as much chance of going to the World Cup next summer as they have of beating Portugal in October. Even if they somehow manage to get a result in Lisbon, I’d bet real money on them losing at home to Armenia three days later.
That is where Ireland currently exist. Nobody expects anything from them any more.
The line that keeps being trotted out, about the squad being made up of Premier League and top-end Championship players carries no weight any more.
It is not about a step up in quality, it is about players being able to cope with the expectations of a country that craves success. Failing that, the fans will accept honest endeavour.
Ireland have Ferguson and Kelleher, but how they could do with a supporting cast of men like O’Shea, Dunne, Kinsella and Breen right about now.
