“I wouldn’t change anything about my background.”
Eunan O’Kane could just as easily have been lining out against Meath on Easter Sunday.
The county Derry man is a product of a proud sporting background steeped in rich GAA history. His family are footballers, camogie players, Gaels. His parish, Banagher, mans the Sperrin Mountains overlooking rival county Tyrone and O’Kane himself was moulded into that way of life as a youngster.
A renowned centre half forward back in his day, he held a certain fear factor within Derry GAA circles – underage circles at least – and with all the talent, the attitude and the DNA he possessed, God knows he could’ve been county standard one day.
He harnessed that ability elsewhere though and, after 25 years of growth, O’Kane became a fully-fledged Ireland international on Friday night in Dublin. He might be miles away from the glens of north Derry now but he still credits that upbringing for getting him to the Aviva Stadium and making him the man he is today – a Republic of Ireland player.
“I think it has stood me in very good stead,” O’Kane spoke with SportsJOE about his GAA background. “I would say it definitely helped. I think, in the Gaelic Games, upper body strength is a much bigger thing than it is here. There are huge parts of that that have helped me in my football career and I wouldn’t change anything about my background.
“It’s a game that I love and a game that I follow and maybe one day I’ll go back to playing it.”
For now, he has different business to take care of. With his introduction during the Switzerland win on the hour mark, O’Kane changed the game. Alright, the match still finished 1-0 to the Irish but certainly in momentum and style, the Bournemouth man, along with James McCarthy, wrestled control of the fixture and lifted the Dublin crowd.
It was a proud moment for him. It was a moment he had been dreaming of for a while – for too long, nearly.
Thank you to everyone for all the messages. So proud to have made my debut. Hopefully it will be the first of many.☘ pic.twitter.com/OdnEFK8wh4
— Eunan O'Kane (@eunan10) March 25, 2016
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” he said. “You know, it’s been a long journey to get to make my international debut and to finally get over that hurdle, it’s a sense of relief and excitement all at the same time. It’s been a long time coming and hopefully it’s the first of many.
“It was a tough time to come into the squad [back in August when he didn’t get any game time]. We were at the serious end of things and I think previously to this, I was aware that I wasn’t going to be coming in to play. He [Martin O’Neill] wasn’t going to throw a young lad in at the deep end in the Germany game or something like that.
“This time coming, I thought I had a realistic chance of potentially making the debut and getting the chance to impress and hopefully I’ve done enough to do that.”
It was a performance that had the Irish fans interested. Solid defensively, cool in possession, exciting when he was looking forward. O’Kane almost bagged himsef a goal too late on when he curled just wide and he even found time for a cheeky nutmeg on Breel Embolo at the edge of his own box.
Jesus, someone should’ve reminded him that this was his first game.
“The manager might not be too happy about that when he looks back on the video,” he laughed at his ballsy improvisation before cursing his luck with his effort that went wide. “I thought I had scored. I hit it and I think the goalkeeper thought I had scored as well but it wasn’t to be.”
Now, the race is on for France. A number of players are sticking their hands up and vying for the admiration of the manager – O’Kane is there at the front of that attention-seeking queue. There’s a game with Slovakia on Tuesday. One more with Holland in May. Then, 23 men will board a plane for Euro 2016.
“All I can do is look after me and when I have the chance to impress – whether that’s in training here or in games here or at Bournemouth – I need to just perform to the highest level I can to give myself the best chance.
“If it comes to May and I’ve done enough to be on that plane to France, brilliant. But all I can do is look after me. I can’t worry about where I am or who’s in front of me. It’s about me doing the best I can and if that’s enough come May time, then that’s enough. If it’s not, well then there’s plenty more games to be had. You know, I’m still only quite young and it’s not just about France, it’s about the longer term as well.”
With a 30-minute introudction to international football, Eunan O’Kane gave another exciting glimpse to the Irish faithful of that hopeful longer term that once seemed bleak.
There’s more to come from this man, it’s easy to see. Where that takes him, that’s the interesting part for us all to enjoy. It might take him to France this summer. And it might even take him back to Banagher. Back to his GAA roots.
“You never know. I’ll never say never. Hopefully it’s a long way off at this point though.”
