JAMES McCLEAN believes there is no better man to put this broken Ireland team back together than Martin O’Neill.It is now 100 days since Ireland’s World Cup qualification hopes were blown up by Danish dynamite and it still hurts everyone associated with the national side.
creggan’s James McClean was in tears coming off the pitch that night following the humbling 5-1 play-off loss and he acknowledges that the memories still haunt him.
But with O’Neill committed for the Euro 2020 campaign, fellow Derry man McClean is thrilled.
And he insists he is the just what Ireland need right now.
The West Brom winger, 28, said: “The biggest thing for a footballer, and I’ve said this in the past . . . if a manager gives you confidence going out on a football field, you feel 10ft tall and that you can do anything.
“He gave me my debut at Sunderland with simple instructions to go out and enjoy myself. You make a mistake he tells you to relax and put it right next time.
“So just to go out and play under a manager that gives you that confidence to go out and express yourself and not have to worry if I give the ball away or make a mistake, that he’s sending someone else to warm up or he’s going to take you off at time.
“He gives the chance to correct them wrongs. And, for me, I can’t express how delighted I am that he’s staying on.”
McClean also dismissed suggestions that O’Neill’s dalliance with Stoke City — whom he spoke to before committing to Ireland — will have any negative impact on the squad.
He added: “I think that is nonsense, we are all big boys. We are professionals and our job is to go on pitch and do what we have to do and get results for the country. He never once said that he was leaving or that he was interested in the job. He kept quiet, signed a new deal. All’s good.
“I haven’t worked with anyone better. I feel, since he’s come in, especially in the Ireland setup, I’ve scored a lot of goals and I’m looking forward to continue working with him.
“Since they’ve — Roy Keane and staff as well — come in, I think they’ve done an amazing job.
“They qualified us for the Euros, which was a very tough qualifying group. Then we got to the Euros, a tough group and we were narrowly beaten by France.
“One or two fine margins and we would have put France out.
“And, we were one game from getting to a World Cup. We’re not the biggest country in the world and we were up against bigger countries and bigger reputations.
“So I think they have done an unbelievable job and I’m looking forward to them staying on and seeing what the future holds.”
That “one game” from getting to Russia 2018 is still on his mind
And after battling to a 0-0 draw in Copenhagen in the first leg, McClean and Co could almost taste qualification.
The ex- Wigan ace explained: “It’s more so the fact that we went out to Denmark and got a good result and you’re coming back thinking, ‘We’ve got them at home, we’ve got a real chance here’. And we went one up.
“But they get their first goal, a quick second and these things happen in football.
“Now we’re 2-1 down, we need to win the game and we went for it and they picked us off on the counter. We got beat 5-1, it doesn’t look great, but if we’d drawn 1-1 or been beaten 2-1, it’s all the same, it still wouldn’t have been enough.
“Having come so close, to have it in your hands, being one up, and for it unravel how it did . . . ”
He also has paid no heed to pundits questioning O’Neill’s decision to go for it.
McClean continued: “If I was to do it all again, I would have scored at 1-0 when I had the chance and put it wide.
“They’re the little things you look back on. It would have been 2-0, maybe game over.
“That goes through your mind a lot. But the night happened the way it happened and it hurt and it’s hurt for a long time. But we can’t keep dwelling the past, we need to put it right going forward.
“That’s going to hurt for a long time. It’ll go away if we qualify for another major tournament.
“Hopefully we’ll qualify for the Euros next but for it to truly go away, we’ll have to qualify for a World Cup. Hopefully I’ll be around and we’ll have a squad good enough to do that.”
O’Neill has revealed he plans to freshen up the squad ahead of the campaign, with West Ham 19-year-old Declan Rice set for a debut while Conor Hourihane, Scott Hogan and Seánie Maguire will get the chance to stake claims for regular starts.
But McClean reckons it is also a time for the younger mainstays to step up and fill the void left by the departures of elder statesmen such as Wes Hoolahan and Kevin Doyle.
He added: “It’s key for players like myself, Séamus Coleman, David Meyler, James McCarthy, Shane Duffy to step up as well in the absence of these more senior players bowing out.
“It’s up to us to step up and be those senior figures.
We’ve been around the squad a long time as well.
“We’ve always kind of been those young lads because a there has always been older lads.
“So it’s up to us to step up to the mantle and take off, not just on the pitch, but off the pitch the roles those lads had for us for when we came in.”
