It’s very easy to forget the work that goes into every single player.
No-one just makes it to international level by chance.
Conor O’Malley doesn’t just wake up one day and he’s the St. Pat’s goalkeeper. He doesn’t play a good game and get signed by Peterborough. The phone call from Martin O’Neill doesn’t come after a few weeks.
O’Malley is a man who has been in the making since he joined Westport United as an 11-year-old back in 2006. Over five years he spent with his local club in Mayo before he got signed by Mervue United and, from there, it has just been a constant rise.
At 23, O’Malley is now part of the Ireland setup.
He got the nod ahead of the France and USA games and had to cancel a trip across the Atlantic himself to answer the call. On Saturday night, there’s a big chance that he could make his international debut but, on Saturday night, his first club – the one where he began this journey – won’t be able to watch.
Instead, Westport United are being forced to continue their game in the Mayo Football League at 7pm.
Westport are away to Erris United and must travel the one hour and 20 minutes to Belmullet to complete the fixture and they must do it on Saturday evening despite requesting a change so they could support Conor O’Malley.
The club issued a statement on the matter:
‘Westport United has confirmed that the Elvery Sports Super League match away to Iorras Aontaithe this Saturday evening with kick off at 7:00 will go ahead while, over 320km away, the Republic of Ireland takes on the USA at 8:08 with former Westport United goalkeeper Conor O’Malley will be at least be on the bench with a potentially historic first cap for the Republic of Ireland at senior level if he makes an appearance.
‘The news is disappointing for supporters who might have wished to travel to either Dublin to witness a possible historic occasion for Westport United or Belmullet to cheer on the Red and Black.
‘Also due to the club’s social media department travelling to the Aviva Stadium, there will be no live stream of the Iorras Aontaithe v Westport United match so apologies to our regular viewers.’
So the people who’ve put the most work into O’Malley so far in his career, his friends, his community members and his first club, they all must make a decision over whether to watch the Ireland game or watch the Westport game.
The players and coaching staff can’t make any decision though.
They’ll miss the game and the occasion and they’ll miss the recognition they all deserve too that comes with a first cap.
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