Media Should Butt Out!

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Irish Voice Sport

Media Should Butt Out!

By Cathal Dervan

THEY may be losing the faith of some members of the Irish public, but the good news is that the Ireland soccer squad has yet to lose whatever is left of their sense of humor.

On Tuesday afternoon, as the finishing touches were being put to the plans for Wednesday night’s final home game in the European qualifiers against Cyprus, a group of those players gathered in front of a training goal on the Croke Park pitch.

Andy Keogh then emerged from amongst their number, walked to the goal line, turned away from his colleagues to face the Canal End and hoisted the rear of his anatomy into the Dublin air.

Behind him, about 12 yards from goal and far enough to count as a penalty kick, a number of his teammates lined up to see if they could indeed hit the Wolves striker Keogh in the backside.

Most failed. Liam Miller, John O’Shea and Stephen Hunt, who grazed the crossbar rather than Keogh’s rump, all had a go amongst others.

Then the Birmingham defender Stephen Kelly, fresh from his best performance yet in an Ireland shirt in Saturday night’s scoreless draw against Germany, entered the fray.

He placed the ball on the imaginary penalty spot, took aim and hit Keogh exactly where the sun don’t shine, much to the amusement of the players standing watching and the media gathered on the sideline for a peak at Irish preparations.

Quite what the Cypriot press representatives present made of the training ground frivolity is still unclear, but it was heartening to see that boys will still be boys even when the country is divided on the issue of Irish soccer once again.

Some pundits, you see, have had enough of manager Stephen Staunton, and not even a performance that deserved a win against a German side going through the motions on Saturday night can change that.

The usual suspects, many of whom hounded Mick McCarthy and Brian Kerr in a previous life, were at it again on Sunday and Monday, using the sports pages of the national papers as their weapons in the war against the gaffer.

They claimed a majority of the crowd booed Staunton on Saturday night. Not true. The boos were minimal at halftime, and no one can say for certain that they were directed at Staunton or the Germany team as they came back out for the second half.

They claimed that the crowd sang “You don’t know what you’re doing,” when Staunton replaced Shane Long late in the second half. Yes, some idiots did indulge in some such rubbish, but they were soon drowned out by a chorus of “come on you boys in green.”
One of Sunday’s finest publications even printed a claim that Stephen Ireland had been mistreated in the Irish dressingroom, even though they were told on Friday that their story was completely untrue.

A Monday paper journalist, a man who gave Andy O’Brien two marks out of 10 in his player ratings against Cyprus a year ago, then demanded his inclusion against Germany last weekend, also annoyed the Irish manager with a bizarre question on Saturday night.

Essentially said tabloid hack wanted to know why Staunton hadn’t thrown everyone forward for Ireland’s last minute corner at Croker, including goalkeeper Shay Given.
“I don’t like goalies going up for corners,” said Staunton, and he’s right. Imagine what would have happened if Given had crossed the halfway line and the German had scored on the breakaway?

Yes, you guessed it, Staunton would have been hammered by the very same journalist.
The Irish manager and his team can’t win at the moment, not in the eyes of the pundits anyway, whatever about on the pitch.

Ireland doesn’t have the quality of days gone by; Keogh, for example, would never have got in ahead of Jason McAteer or Ray Houghton on the right side of midfield in the past, but Staunton is making the most of a bad lot.

He has fashioned a side that should have beaten the Czechs and the Germans at least once each in this group and he knows it. He also knows that come the next World Cup qualifiers he will be judged by the only people who matter –- the FAI –- on his results, and only on his results. Then and only then will judgment be passed on this rookie manager, and he deserves that much at least.

In the meantime I suggest the players redirect their practice penalty kicks in the future towards the sideline where the members of the press are standing, simply because there are a few choice bums to hit over there!

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