IRELAND’S DWINDLING PREMIER League influence has been a years-long trend, with the total minutes accumulated by Irish players this season falling to a record low.
And yet when you reflect on the season through green-tinted specs, the headlines are at odds with these dreary stats, largely thanks to Evan Ferguson’s emergence at Brighton.
Six goals, two assists and two contract extensions marks a very impressive breakout year for Ferguson and the most exciting Irish football has seen in England since Robbie Keane.
But rare talents bring extreme expectation: Ireland coach John O’Shea has already said Ferguson could break Keane’s 68-goal record.
“I want him enjoying his football”, says Stephen Kenny of Ferguson, who will lead the line for Ireland against Greece on Friday. “He’s only 18. [We want him to] just bring the club form into our team, enjoy what you do, come in and train well and bring that in. It was great for him on his first start to get a goal and he has other good attributes. He’s not just a goalscorer. He holds the ball up really well and he’s tactically astute, for one so young, he’s done really well, we’re delighted with him.”
Though Ferguson grabbed the headlines, no Irish outfield player clocked up more Premier League minutes last season than Nathan Collins, albeit he spent much of the second half of the season on the Wolves bench as manager Julen Lopetegui preferred Craig Dawson and Max Kilman.
“First of all, he is a good lad”, replies Collins when asked about Ferguson at the Irish team hotel in Antalya . “That’s the main thing, as much as his football ability is unbelievable he is a good lad around the place, humble as anyone, he is good craic, having banter with everyone. That’s what we all need in this team. It doesn’t matter how good you are, everybody needs to get along with everyone.
“Secondly, his football ability really is ridiculous. His hold up play, his touch, his finishing, everything. He has an all round game and it is really exciting to play with him, and to watch him.
“I have had spells [playing] against him and he is strong, big and has a lovely touch. He’s an awkward player to play against. You have to really use your brain against him. Even on telly you want to see him do well, to score goals. He’s an exciting player.”
Such has been the infusion of youth in the Irish team under Stephen Kenny, the title of Top Prospect has been passed around regularly, sometimes from one international window to another. Collins had the patent on it a year ago, when he played every minute of Ireland’s four Nations League games and capped it off with his fabulous solo goal against Ukraine in Poland.
That Ferguson is the newly anointed Boy King, however, is an irresistible fact.
“I think he is handling it well”, says Collins of how Ferguson is dealing with the pressure. “There are a few players who had that experience so he knows he can come to us. As I say, he is a humble lad, he won’t get drawn away from that. He is not massive on social media, which I think is a good thing. I think it is no problem for him, he will be alright.”
It is Ferguson’s humility upon which Collins alights when he praises him, saying it’s a necessary virtue in football.
“You need that humility to want to keep getting better”, says Collins.
One benefit to both Ferguson and Collins is that football is the family business. Both of their fathers were professional footballers, which offered an early grounding in the berserk world of professional football.
“You probably don’t really notice when you are young that you are being introduced to football so early”, says Collins. “It is just one of those things, football is your whole life, you don’t know much else other than football.
“I am pretty sure it is the same with him. I don’t think it is a wrong thing or a bad thing, it is good for both of us that we have been introduced to the game so early, that we have experienced so much so far.
“My dad would kill me if I got carried away! He’d probably pull me away from football, to be fair. Evan looks the same, he is humble as anything, doesn’t try to show off. That’s crucial to keep getting better as a player.”
The Irish place in the Premier League has been long-since humbled, but Collins and Ferguson have the attributes to restore some of its lustre.
