EX-IRELAND INTERNATIONAL David Meyler is The42′s football columnist for this season.
Every Friday, the former Hull City and Sunderland midfielder will give expert insight and his predictions ahead of the weekend’s action, alongside the latest William Hill prices.
In his latest column, Meyler looks ahead to Ireland’s upcoming friendly matches with Andorra and Hungary, and explains what it was like to take part in end-of-season training camps.
Andorra v Ireland, 5pm Thursday
By all accounts, it has been a long hard season for players at club level.
And while most leagues have now concluded, many of the European nations are this week putting the final preparations together to compete at the rescheduled Euro 2020.
Contrastingly — having missed out on a place at the 24-team tournament and the chance to host games in Dublin — the Ireland squad has gathered in Spain for a summer training camp.
Lads will be coming into the international week from different scenarios. Some might be drained emotionally after experiencing promotion or relegation, others may be looking for a new club as they are out of contract or else they could be on cloud nine after agreeing a new deal.
A few will not want the season to end as they’re in flying form but there is also likely to be a couple who have not featured competitively in weeks or even months.
So you never know how people will be when you head into camp as there are so many ups and downs in football.
In the past, I’ve linked up with the squad following promotion, relegation and after losing an FA Cup final. However, regardless of whether I was coming in off the back of a high or a low, I always got a great buzz from going on Ireland duty.
Depending on where you fly from, some of the lads will go home to see their families in Ireland first, while those with wives and kids would often stay with them beforehand because they know they will be away for the best part of two weeks.
It has been a few years since I was involved and I know things might have changed since then but when you landed at the airport, the drivers, Dan and Stephen, would collect you and we had the craic straight away.
You would arrive at the hotel and be greeted by the security, Martin, Bobby, Drew and Ciaran. Then you’d bump into the team doctor, Alan, and Ciaran the physio, before having a chat with the kit men — Mick and Dick.
I always looked forward to catching up with that group of lads and talking to the manager.
The Stephen Kenny era has so far been dogged by setbacks and disappointments. His Ireland team has gone 11 games without a win – five draws and six defeats — and we can all agree that is too long.
Personally, I can see the big picture in terms of the changes he is trying to implement and while a lot of fans will agree, the run of poor results has inevitably cast doubt about this management team.
But Stephen has been involved in the game for a long time and he will be under no illusions.
If you look back at the games, Ireland haven’t taken a severe hiding in any and I don’t think they are a million miles away from getting things right.
Putting the ball in the back of the net has proven extremely difficult for years in the absence of a natural goalscorer but Stephen has brought in some creative attackers so here’s hoping that one of these guys can assist someone or even get on the scoresheet.
There are five new faces in this squad in the shape of Jamie McGrath, Danny Mandroiu, Chiedozie Ogbene, Andrew Omobamidele and Sam Szmodics.
McGrath scored 17 goals for St Mirren this season and Kenny knows the 24-year-old well, having signed him for Dundalk from St Patrick’s Athletic.
Mandroiu has been excellent for Shamrock Rovers since joining from Bohemians, while ex-Cork City and Limerick winger Ogbene had a good end to the season with Rotherham United after a lengthy injury lay-off.
At 18, central defender Omobamidele looked really composed for Norwich City as they won the Championship, while attacking midfielder Szmodics scored 15 goals to help Peterborough United earn promotion from League One.
Yesterday, however, Szmodics was ruled out of this evening’s game with a shoulder injury that is likely to see him miss Tuesday’s match as well.
This week represents a huge opportunity for these players. They will be desperate to put a marker down and ensure they stay around the squad.
With the likes of Seamus Coleman, James McClean and Matt Doherty included, there is a mix of experienced players alongside the younger lads who are attempting to carve out international careers for themselves.
You’ve also got Harry Arter, who is back on the scene after missing out on recent squads. For players like John Egan and Shane Duffy, who had tough seasons at club level, they are likely to get a lift coming into the camp.
The FAI posted a picture of four Cork lads — Ogbene, Adam Idah, Caoimhin Kelleher and Egan — on Instagram the other day and I must say it’s great to see.
Conor Hourihane is also in the squad and Alan Browne would usually be there too, but he has asked to sit this week out.
We look at the great players from Cork and the two that stand out are Roy Keane and Denis Irwin. Then there were the likes of Colin Healy, Liam Miller and Damien Delaney.
In the early parts of my Ireland career, there would have been quite a few camps where I was the only Cork man and Dublin dominated for many years but it’s always good to have a few Rebels to straighten those lads out!
Joking aside, it is vital that we are producing players from all over the country. Ideally, you want every county developing players that are pushing on to international football for the men’s and women’s teams.
In terms of his starting XI for this evening, I think Stephen will go with a mixed team as I don’t think he has brought these lads in to make up the numbers.
I haven’t watched them in training everyday so I have no idea how they are getting on but he has called them in to see how they can handle international football and you would expect a few of them to get game time.
Even though results haven’t been good, this Andorra friendly is a huge opportunity to put the previous setbacks behind them and get that elusive first win under their belts.
Ireland have beaten the minnows in four previous meetings (3-0, 3-1, 3-1 and 2-0) but the most recent of those was under Giovanni Trapattoni in 2011, so those games are not particularly relevant.
I really hope the lads can produce a good performance against admittedly weak opposition and get their confidence up for the remaining World Cup qualifiers.
I’m going to say 2-0 to Ireland.
Hungary v Ireland, 8pm Tuesday
On Tuesday, Ireland are in Budapest to face a side who succeeded where they failed by qualifying for the Euros via the play-offs.
Hungary are in this year’s ‘Group of Death’ with the last two World Cup winners — France and Germany — as well as reigning European champions Portugal.
It will undoubtedly be a much tougher test than Andorra, but the strength of the opponent will depend on whether their manager, Italian Marco Rossi, wants to play his strongest side or give some of the squad players minutes.
I think this one will be tight, so I’ll go for a 1-1 draw.
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