A rugby Grand Slam doesn’t quite heal all the wounds from a humiliating 5-1 World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark last November, but it can lighten the mood.
Eight of the 23 players that lined out for Ireland at Twickenham on St. Patrick’s Day were aged 25 or under, a remarkable testament of Irish Rugby’s production line and a stark comparison to Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland football side, a team that were the oldest squad at Euro 2016 with an average age of 29 years and 297 days.
Shay Given, Wes Hoolahan, Robbie Keane and Daryl Murphy have since moved on from the side and their departures may have brought the average age of Ireland’s squad down by a couple of years, but the lack of youth in the national team has been a problem that has been staring Martin O’Neill in the face for the last five years.
The Ireland manager has been aware of the issue for some time but has stood firmly by his policy of ‘not-playing-kids-for-the-sake-of-playing-kids’ and added last September that he would not consider changing his stance unless he was asked to do so by FAI CEO John Delaney.
“You want to try and qualify for competitions, that’s my job,” O’Neill told FAI TV. “If, for instance, I had taken up the mantle here almost four years ago and John Delaney had said to me ‘What we want Martin, in four years’ time is a young side that is vibrant and ready to go, so don’t worry about qualification’ I think we could have done that quite easily.
“We could have said to some of the old guard, who have been really fine players for the national side, ‘Listen lads, time is up and we’re going with this youth policy’.
“But we’d still want to qualify for a competition and some of the old guard would have said to me ‘well that’s fine, I still want to play and if someone comes along who is younger and better than me I will be pushed aside’, which is the nature of the game.
“What has happened is some of the older players have stuck with it and they have been excellent for us. In that sense, at this minute what we’re looking for is younger players of that quality to come through and take their place. Not just take their place for one or two games, but be good enough to compete at this level.
“That’s the most important thing. Whatever you say about international football, it’s a step up for a lot of the players and this is where we have to compete. So far, we’ve been able to do that in the last couple of years.”
The old guard have become the older guard but the players pushing them are now capable of taking their spots in the side, which hasn’t always been the case over the last two qualifying campaigns.
O’Neill has managed five different teams over the last 20 years and at 66-years-old he doesn’t necessarily have the time, or seemingly the desire, to introduce young players into his side, but they’re here now, and the same problem that has been staring him in the face for the last five years will now literally be staring him in the face in a dressing room in Antalya, Turkey on Friday.
The young players have arrived in the Ireland squad and they are spearheaded by Preston North End striker Seanie Maguire and West Ham United defender Declan Rice.
BREAKING: Martin O'Neill has named a 30-man provisional squad for the upcoming friendly against Turkey! #COYBIG pic.twitter.com/tCZBCC7Ni3
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) March 8, 2018
The pair have impressed many this season and they should be the two players that O’Neill should look to build Ireland’s future around as James McClean, Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick and Seamus Coleman move into more senior roles within the side.
Maguire has been very impressive for Preston North End since returning from a hamstring injury earlier this month and should start ahead of ‘the artist formerly known as Shane Long’, while Rice should be able to oust Ciaran Clark from the centre of defence in light of the Denmark loss, that is if O’Neill decides to play him there and not in midfield.
Meanwhile in midfield, Jeff Hendrick desperately needs someone to challenge him for his place and Aston Villa’s Conor Hourihane has been in terrific form for Steve Bruce’s side.
The Cork native has scored nine goals this season for Villa and while he may not be so young at 27, he’s not Glenn Whelan either, in terms of style or in terms of years lived.
For a team that desperately struggles to score goals they could use a goalscoring midfielder like Hourihane.
His hat-trick against Norwich at the start of the season should have earned him more than 10 combined minutes against Georgia and Serbia, but with no James McCarthy, no Harry Arter and no World Cup spot on the line, there should be no excuse not to play him.
The implosion against Denmark in November wasn’t all that surprising when you consider Ireland’s performances in Serbia and Georgia during the campaign, but O’Neill now has a crop of players that want to get on the ball and play, as opposed to treating it like it’s an enemy of the state.
Ireland have a lot of spots available to players like Rice, Maguire and Hourihane and not an awful lot of reasons not to play them.
There is reason to be hopeful for the future of Irish football but it has to start with a younger generation of players as the old guard turn to punditry, retirement and India.
Republic of Ireland Squad
Goalkeepers: Colin Doyle (Bradford City), Kieran O’Hara (Manchester United), Aaron McCarey (Ross County)
Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Cyrus Christie (Fulham), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Declan Rice (West Ham United), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Ciaran Clark (Newcastle United), Kevin Long (Burnley), Alex Pearce (Derby County), Darragh Lenihan, Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United)
Midfielders: Alan Judge (Brentford), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), David Meyler (Hull City), Eunan O’Kane (Leeds United), Alan Browne, Daryl Horgan (Preston North End), James McClean (West Bromwich Albion)
Forwards: Shane Long (Southampton), Scott Hogan (Aston Villa), Sean Maguire (Preston North End)
