IT WAS a night Liam Scales will never forget but one most Irish fans won’t remember.
The 25-year-old defender was rewarded for his fine start to the season at Celtic with a first international cap.
The former Shamrock Rovers player delivered a solid performance under difficult circumstances — and when Stephen Kenny opted to make a change to the defence at the break, it was the more experienced (at international level) Nathan Collins who made way rather than Scales.
The Wicklow native started the game at left-back before switching to centre-half to accommodate the more attack-minded Ryan Manning, who was introduced at half-time.
By then, however, much of the damage was done, as Ireland found themselves with a mountain to climb at 2-0 down.
“[The goals] came at bad times as well,” Scales told reporters afterwards. “We definitely could have defended a bit better. We were well in the game as well. We were not playing to the levels we could but we were unlucky not to get a couple of goals and had we defended better for their two goals, then we could have stayed in the game. It is frustrating.”
While Ireland lack depth in certain departments, centre-back is one of the few areas where they have an abundance of viable options, with several younger players breaking through in recent times. So was Scales ever concerned he was being left behind?
“I never really worried because I knew once I got into the team at Celtic that it would put me in contention because obviously, I was playing in the Champions League. That has given me the opportunity to get my debut. Plus, I have always been a bit of a late developer so I knew if I could stay patient and keep improving, I would eventually get there.”
The competition in the Celtic defence has been similarly fierce, and Scales admits he wasn’t always confident of breaking through.
“During the summer I thought maybe I’d have to go to get regular football. A couple of injuries happened and I came in and sort of proved to them what I could do. I showed the manager what I could do and now he’s sort of backing me. It’s a good feeling. I always felt that if I got an opportunity to play centre-half there I could go and do what I’ve done.”
Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers reserved high praise for the ex-UCD player last weekend, hailing him as “probably one of the biggest surprises in my career”.
“I was away last year at Aberdeen and they signed a lot of centre-halves. There’s a lot of competition there and that’s probably true. He probably thought I was going to be heading elsewhere. The injuries happened and he was forced to play me. I did as well as I could have to sort of stay in the team and prove to him what I’m about.”
And what sort of feedback was Scales receiving before when he wasn’t being picked?
“It was sort of like, ‘be patient, patient’, and I was just training well. You can’t let your head go if you’re not playing. Football is a mad game and things happen. I was just patient, I got the chance and I’ve taken it now. Hopefully, it can continue. I can’t get complacent. I need to continue doing what I’ve been doing, stay in the team and hopefully get more caps here as well because that’s the dream.”
While his prospects at Celtic certainly are looking very promising, the same cannot be said for Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualification hopes. At this point, securing a playoff spot would feel like a minor miracle, let alone winning the two fixtures in question.
It means the main motivation for Ireland’s penultimate group game in Faro will be avoiding embarrassment.
“Obviously, qualification is done and that’s that,” Scales admitted. “But we’re playing for the jersey and pride now. We’re all proud to be wearing the jersey and we’ll go to Gibraltar, hopefully get a result and do better.”