WHEN STEPHEN KENNY announced his Ireland squad for the games against Latvia and France last month, perhaps the main quibble among critics was the absence of Ryan Manning.
The Swansea star has been in terrific form in the Championship this season and looks set to move to a bigger club this summer with his contract due to expire.
Yet there is another Irish attacking full-back/wing-back who has received less attention but has been similarly impressive in the second tier this season and is pushing for an international call-up.
With 41 appearances in all competitions, Danny McNamara has been a vital part of Millwall’s promotion push.
A top-two finish and automatic promotion are no longer possible for the Lions, but a playoff place still looks eminently achievable.
They currently sit fifth with three games to play, albeit it’s extremely tight between a handful of teams — just three points separate Gary Rowett’s men from 11th-place Preston.
And McNamara understands there is little margin for error amid this tense climax.
We speak the morning after Millwall missed a golden opportunity to put some breathing space between themselves and their rivals, suffering a hugely frustrating 1-0 home loss to a 15th-place Birmingham City team that have little left to play for with survival secured and who had been without a win in their previous three games.
For most of the key stats — xG, shots on target, possession — the hosts came out comfortably on top, except for the one that mattered most obviously.
“We need to be clinical in games like this,” Rowett told BBC London afterwards. “What you can’t do is concede a poor goal, because at the moment we’re not scoring with enough regularity to handle the pressure of doing that.”
Speaking to The 42, McNamara echoes his manager’s message: “It was just individual mistakes that killed us. But if you look at the game, we were the dominant side. Most of the game, we created a lot of chances. But yeah, we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, it was just one of those nights.”
Two of the sides just below them in sixth and seventh — Blackburn and West Brom — are one and two points adrift respectively, but they each have a game in hand.
McNamara and co can consequently scarcely afford to drop many more points in the run-in.
Their next two games certainly look winnable, albeit they are coming up against the Championship’s bottom two sides who will be fighting for their lives as they sit on the brink of relegation.
They travel to face Wigan today and visit Blackpool on Friday.
Then, their final game of the season could effectively turn out to be a playoff before the playoffs, as they host a Blackburn side also in contention to go up by the most circuitous route possible.
“You can sense it with the fans, they’re on edge. It feels like we’ve got three cup finals happening.
“Every game is a massive game. Obviously, we lost [on Tuesday] night, but we’re still in the mix and we’ve just got to go again against Wigan and try to put it right.”
McNamara is still only 24 and has been a regular in the Millwall team for two and a half seasons, with this campaign the closest he has come to reaching the promised land of Premier League football.
“Obviously last season, we were close, but I wouldn’t say we were this close. We were sort of there or thereabouts. We were ninth and then we’d be seventh but we didn’t really get into the playoffs.
“But this year we’ve been in fifth for most of the season. And I think it’s ours to lose really going into the last three games.”
McNamara says he feels like “more of a senior pro now” having built up plenty of Championship experience in recent years.
It is not unreasonable to suggest his career has been slowly building and serving as preparation for this crucial moment.
Should he feature today, it will be McNamara’s 93rd appearance for Millwall in the Championship, while he has played well over 100 games at senior level — not too many Irish players in his age bracket can match those stats.
Before making the breakthrough at the Den, between 2018 and 2021, he undertook no fewer than five loan moves, gradually making a step up with each successive transfer — Welling United (National League South), Dover Athletic (National League), Havant & Waterlooville (National League), Newport County (League Two), and St Johnstone (Scottish Premiership).
“I feel like I’ve had a good season,” he adds. “I feel like I’ve been on my game. I think I’ve played near enough every game this season bar a few.
“I feel like I’ve been playing well. I think the team has played well. Obviously, there have been games here and there, where we weren’t really at it. But I just feel like I’m developing every game. I’ve still got a lot to learn. But playing week in, week out in the Championship, you’re going to develop and learn new things.”
Not that there haven’t been occasional bumps along the road, of course.
“You know what the Championship is like, it’s relentless, if you make a few bad mistakes, you could be out,” he says.
“I’ve been dropped a couple of times, once or twice. Maybe the second time was more just to give me a rest.
“And then the team actually had a good game and won and you’re out of the team for a few weeks.
“I was out of the team for maybe four or five weeks. I probably missed 10 games or so in my career.
“So that was probably my downtime. But it was not too bad. No one died. So I can’t complain too much.”
While chances have been plentiful at Millwall recently, the same cannot be said as far as international level is concerned.
McNamara has just two Ireland U21 caps to his name.
Born in Sidcup, London, he qualifies to represent the Boys in Green through his late grandparents on his father’s side, who hail from Edgeworthstown, County Longford, where McNamara and his family would frequently spend summers during his childhood.
Of his 21s experience, he adds: “It was good to be in and around the squad surrounded by good players. Obviously, a lot of them have pushed on now.
“But I wish I had played a lot more than two games, to be honest, that got me down a little bit. But what I would say is every time I was in the camp, I would give it my all, I was obviously trying to impress as much as I could.
“But at the time, I was a bit unfortunate because Lee O’Connor was in my position and obviously he had come through the ranks and he was also getting a lot of praise and stuff.”
McNamara faces a similar conundrum at senior level, as the right wing-back slot is one area where Ireland are especially strong, with Matt Doherty and Seamus Coleman currently ahead of him in the pecking order.
As a consequence, the youngster has still yet to receive an official call-up to the Ireland senior squad, despite regularly featuring on the standby lists in recent times.
“I’ll speak to [Stephen Kenny] probably once every six months maybe. He’ll contact me, lets me know how I’m doing, and says how close I am.
“I’m always on standby lists, I get in the [provisional] squad and then don’t make the final squad. So it shows that I’m pretty close. It’s just obviously I’m a bit unfortunate because I’ve got two great full-backs in front of me at the moment, but I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully, I can make my way into that squad and prove why I should be in there.
“I feel like I’m 100% ready. I’m just waiting for that final call and then I’m good to go.”
And does McNamara feel that promotion to the Premier League with Millwall would enhance his international prospects considerably?
“Of course, I’d definitely agree with that. But there are also Championship players in that squad and they’re doing really well, and so are we — Millwall fifth in the Championship so hopefully that will get noticed and maybe put something into Stephen’s head.”
On potentially playing in the top flight, he adds: “It would mean absolutely everything. I think it’s everyone’s dream. If you’re in and around the playoffs, I feel like you’re looking at the teams above and you think: ‘Wow, there are some good teams in there.’ But I think getting to the playoffs, anyone can beat anyone. And then obviously to be promoted – wow, that would be a dream come true. And especially with my boyhood club, that would mean so much to me and my family.”
