As he left the pitch at Wembley barely 10 days ago, Richard Keogh looked as if he would prefer to find a rock to hide under than go on an end of season international tour.
Time is quite the healer, though, and as he prepared to board a plane for New York with the rest of the Ireland squad yesterday Keogh looked, more than anything, as if he has a point to prove now.
Team-mates, and even the odd opponent, queued up at the end of the play-off final to tell the Derby County defender not to beat himself up over the mistake late on that handed QPR their winner. Without him, they insisted, the team would never have made it so far.
The message seems to have struck home with Keogh, twice the player of the year at the club over the last three years and a big performer again over the course of the campaign just finished, regaining his confidence since joining up with the Ireland squad.
“It’s probably the best thing I could have done,” he says of answering the call up while standing pitch side in Malahide after final training prior to departure to the US.
“Everyone has been great, it’s kind of ‘forget about it a little bit and concentrate on the football’. Looking back, it was a disappointing end to the season for the club but unfortunately, that’s football. I can’t let one thing like that mask over how well I’ve done this season. I feel like I’m in good form. I’m training well; I’m looking forward now to hopefully getting some pitch time.”
In contention
There’s been little enough of that to date for the Harlow born player, but when he has featured for Ireland he has not looked in the least out of place at the heart of the team’s defence. He has even chipped in with a goal in the game against Georgia and must feel that he is in contention to start more regularly in a slot where one of the places is very much up grabs.
“If I get given a chance in America, hopefully I can stake a claim but there is a lot of competition for places and I know there is a few missing out. It is an opportunity to impress the manager again after the Serbia game,” he says.
Playing Premier League football on a regular basis next season would have provided him with a more impressive stage on which to catch O’Neill’s eye. He will have been disappointed last night to learn upon arrival in the US that Ronaldo is set to miss next week’s friendly, as he had rather fancied testing himself against one of the game’s greats.
Ultimately, he insists that he is happy to do it all again in the Championship again after what will be a very short summer break. “Yeah,” he insists, “I’m back on July 1st but that doesn’t bother me; I was always coming here, I love playing football.
“I’ve had a solid season and there might be a bit of interest (from other clubs) but I’ve got a year left on my deal and it’s great being captain so I’m sure the club will sort everything out so I can get on with my life and get focused on pre-season.”
Keane sticking around
In the meantime, he admits, it is good to know Roy Keane will be sticking around. "It's fantastic, great news for us," he says. "Every speech he gives, you listen; he's a fantastic guy and when he gives you advice you listen. I think he enjoys it here, I think he enjoys passing on information and helping us improve as players, so it's great for the country and everything is moving forward.
“When he needs to say things he will say them but he really helps us. Certain aspects of your game he will speak to you about and when someone of his stature speaks to you, you can’t but listen. I am sure he has his reasons for staying and the Italy game was good but now we have two more games and we have to build on where we are now for the qualifiers.”
