What an absolute melt for Daryl Horgan. He did not deserve this.
The Preston attacker travelled to Tbilisi with the Ireland squad after Martin O’Neill cut the wider panel down to 25 men for the World Cup qualifier.
Only 24 ended up travelling to Georgia for the game as Ipswich Town’s David McGoldrick remained at home to be with his wife after she recently gave birth.
O’Neill named his team to play the Georgians a 3:45pm [Irish time] and included both Shane Long and Jon Walters, with Glenn Whelan captaining. Wes Hoolahan and Conor Hourihane are on the bench.
Fans rage about one selection choice for Georgia game https://t.co/rp8dmO369r
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 2, 2017
The Derryman is only permitted to chose 23 players for his matchday squad so one man had to miss out.
For a bizarre reason that must gall with the player, Horgan is the odd man out. The former Dundalk star is the only member of te travelling party not to make an Ireland bench that actually contains TWO goalkeepers – Keiren Westwood and Rob Elliot.
Georgia v Ireland team sheet pic.twitter.com/mbYjshuIoc
— Owen Cowzer (@OCowzer) September 2, 2017
Is there a rule that there has to be two goalkeepers on the bench? Daryl Horgan misses out on the matchday squad. https://t.co/CTxq9XjeK8
— Gerard Grimes (@GerardGrimes11) September 2, 2017
Horgan’s unfortunate fate was one suffered by Aberdeen’s Adam Rooney last season when Georgia came to play at the Aviva Stadium.
Looking at the other subs named by O’Neill, there are four defensive players – John O’Shea, Kevin Long, Richard Keogh and David Meyler – in reserve. One hopes Ireland can put Georgia away and are not relying on an attacking talent, such as Horgan, to get them back into the game.
The 25-year-old has featured fleetingly for Preston this season but he is more than capable of beating his man and producing a magic moment that can make the difference.
