James McClean lung-bursting recovery saves Ireland

Conan Doherty

I can already hear it.

The cries saying, “he’s a f**king professional footballer, what do you expect?”

But it’s not a coincidence that it’s always the same man. It’s not a coincidence that he always does it.

James McClean’s fitness and application isn’t something that needs going over again but more than 8 years after he burst onto the scene and rose straight to international prominence, he’s still working his balls off for the cause but, more than that, it’s still very much needed.

The fact that McClean has amassed 74 caps in that space of time sums up the ever-present commitment that he offers and, despite the disappointment ahead of the playoff in Slovakia that Aaron Connolly wasn’t going to be involved, it took less than two minutes for everyone to thank the Lord that James McClean was involved.

A corner for Ireland leaves them exposed.

They go to break quickly and now you can understand why all those managers hated attacking all those years.

McClean is playing in the front three but he’s sniffing danger.

Slovakia start wiping out what’s left of the Irish rearguard. McClean keeps running.

And, now, he’s the only one who can do anything about it.

But it might be too late.

It’s not too late.

Yes, it’s just a run and it’s just hard work but it’s another heroic piece of play from McClean who was the only reason the sides went in level at the break. It’s game intelligence and, yet again, it’s the same man.

And people noticed.

McClean is the best in the business for tracking back the length of the pitch, let’s hope he can do it at the other end too! #COYBIG

— Eoin Scully (@Eoin_Scully1) October 8, 2020