James McClean joined Sunderland from Derry City in the summer of 2011.
Away from home, his family and friends for the first time, the winger inevitably experienced loneliness and a sense of homesickness in his new environment.
He also spent several months in the reserves before Martin O’Neill became manager in December of that year and gave McClean a run in the first-team.
The Derry winger didn’t let O’Neill down, scoring five times before the end of the season and his form was so good he was included in the Republic of Ireland squad for Euro 2012.
McClean was adamant… https://t.co/MMYhw38T7Z
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 11, 2016
Four years later, and McClean is arguably in the best form of his career, and once again excelling under O’Neill.
The 27-year-old’s goal against Austria gave Ireland their best away fixture in a competitive game in almost 30 years. It was also his third goal of the World Cup qualification campaign and cemented his status as a key player for the national team.
He’s come a long since he was a lonely young man, playing for Sunderland’s reserves and pining for home. McClean was reflecting on Ireland’s victory on Saturday evening, and his own career to date, on Monday evening, and singled out his Ireland teammate David Meyler for helping him settle in England.
The Cork native had been at Sunderland three years by the time McClean arrived, and made an effort to help his fellow Irishman settle at the club.
“David Meyler: He's been waiting for a chance and he was different class.” https://t.co/TGqkciI5Y0
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 14, 2016
“I moved over my own” McClean said on Newstalk’s Off The Ball.
“I wasn’t put in any digs with other players. I was on my own, no two ways about it, that was it. I’d no family or any friends because I didn’t know anyone.
“I have to give a lot of credit to David Meyler, because when I first moved over Meyler was the same age as me at Sunderland, and he really looked after me. Meyler was already established in the first-team and he really looked after me, and I can’t thank him enough for that.”
McClean also reflected on his winning goal, and praised the quality of Wes Hoolahan’s pass that set him up to score the only goal of the game just after half-time in Vienna.
“Once I got in that position I knew I was going to shoot because again if you look back Jonny [Walters] is very closely marked.
“The pass was so good that I only needed one touch to get it into my stride to get a shot away. As soon as I was there I wanted to make sure I hit the target, because if you don’t hit the target you don’t score.
“It was a great feeling to see the ball hit the back of the net. It gave us a massive three points, so it was a very good night.”
McClean said the goal was testament to how he has developed as a player over the past few years.
“As I get older I’m starting to learn more about the game. I’m learning to time my runs more and to be more aware of other players on the pitch. So as soon as Meyler got the ball, I saw that Wes was free in the middle of the pitch.
“”I knew if Wes got it, I was fairly confident my pace would take me past the full-back and that he wouldn’t catch me. I decided to make a run as soon as Wes got it and I took off. When Wes is on the ball, you know he’s going to find you and he did. Luckily I was able to put the ball away.”
