Just over three years ago, Giovanni Trapattoni walked into the press room at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion and tried to insist all was not lost.
Trapattoni knew his time as Ireland manager was coming to an end after a David Alaba goal brought another defeat and closed off another escape route. Trapattoni insisted he could see a way out, but all that remained at that stage was weariness with his ways. Trap’s ways may have been especially wearying, but this was a familiar end for many managers.
In the same press room on Saturday night, Martin O’Neill tried to play down the impact of this latest victory on Ireland’s chances of qualifying for the World Cup, but he will find it difficult to stop people getting carried away.
A generation of Irish supporters has never seen Ireland score against a more vaunted opponent away from home and go on to win. Ireland are top of the group going into the winter. Wales, Austria and Serbia will come to Dublin in 2017 and while there are tricky away games, there is a sense that Ireland are becoming formidable. “There is a great resilience and a great strength of character in the side,” he said here on Saturday night.
O’Neill is aware of the managerial experience, that most careers end as Trap’s did in Vienna, but usually without the years of success Trapattoni had before that.
O’Neill knows that things can alter in an instant, that for all the talk of managers as omniscient gurus they depend on others for so much. In a few months he might be Trap at the end or he might recall his own difficult months in this job when Ireland lost in Scotland and drew with them the following June. He might look at Gordon Strachan and note how quickly and decisively things can change.
But right now, Ireland can rejoice in the work O’Neill has done. For all the frustrations, O’Neill has shaped a team that fears nobody and which has shown an astonishing ability to beat the biggest teams.
Austria may not be among those, but this was a victory that deserved to be praised.
O’Neill refused to rule Austria out of the group, informed by his own previous experiences and plenty of others. Ireland may have moved six points ahead of them with the victory in Vienna on Saturday night, but the road is long.
Marcel Koller, Austria’s manager, followed O’Neill into the press room and spent a long time in front of the local press, explaining it all away, talking about how his team, of whom so much was expected only six months ago, were just too “hectic”, too rushed in everything they did on Saturday night.
But there was a reason for that and O’Neill might know what it is. Ireland are a disruptive force, a side that can override their deficiencies by refusing to give in which, in an area as mediocre as international football, will always give a team a chance.
Wes Hoolahan showed why he should play at all times too. He made plenty of mistakes, but there is always another chance in international football, but only if a player like Wes is on the pitch to capitalise.
He ensured that happened in Vienna on Saturday night, creating the platform for James McClean’s goal and creating the platform for a famous Ireland victory.
Ireland don’t win away from home against teams Irish fans would love to see them beat away from home. In recent years, they have stopped beating teams of stature at all. But O’Neill has changed all that.
If Trapattoni moved elegantly among us as manager of Ireland, O’Neill has been a more angular presence. As anyone who has seen his interview on RTE knows, he can be difficult and edgy. Trapattoni may have been wryly amused by us, but he rarely engaged and there was little joy in watching his Ireland teams play.
One journalist recalled that as he went to put his tape recorder on the table to record Trapattoni’s press conference during that trip to Vienna, the reporter knocked over a glass of water. “You see,” Trapattoni said, “We can all make a mistake.”
Trapattoni hated to see his teams make mistakes and it informed everything he did. O’Neill is marginally less cautious, but it is in those margins that Ireland have been transformed.
On Saturday night, he recalled his first glimpse of James McClean when he was Sunderland manager. “I saw someone who has a great desire,” he said of those early days and that desire has never waned, even if this career seemed improbable at one point.
But McClean could be said to embody the qualities of O’Neill’s Ireland side. He runs tirelessly, sometimes without thought, but even that is changing.
McClean wouldn’t have been fit if the game had taken place on Tuesday, O’Neill said, but then joked that he would have probably declared himself fit anyway.
McClean arrived on the international scene as one of O’Neill’s success stories at club level. He may be about to play a key role in guiding his country to the World Cup.
He combined with Wes Hoolahan to score one of the great Irish goals, but then Hoolahan tend to make a habit of being part of splendid Irish goals.
Here's @dionfanning from Vienna on the genius of Wesley Hoolahan https://t.co/kenMqOcmFt
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 12, 2016
McClean has a “great, great attitude”, O’Neill said, but there was more than that on Saturday. There was a presence of mind once Wes had guided him and the ball towards goal.
Others rose up too. Jeff Hendrick dominated in the second half and David Meyler made a difference. O’Neill praised them afterwards but mentioned that it was early days, that anything can happen.
But he has demonstrated what can happen when he shapes a side. Ireland will fear nobody in 2017. O’Neill will make sure of that even as he publicly stresses everything that can still go wrong.
