Gavin Cooney

AMID THE HEADY aftermath of Ireland’s comeback win in Budapest last November, captain Nathan Collins took a moment to pay generous tribute to Seamus Coleman and John Egan, men who have worn the armband before him and had returned to the squad after September’s debacle in Armenia. 

“What they’ve put into the team”, said Collins, “the energy they’ve given and the belief and faith they’ve put back into us from when we were so down, it’s unbelievable credit to them.” 

Coleman and Egan are back again this week, with Ireland shaping up for Prague and their biggest game in more than eight years. 

“We’re familiar faces even though we were coming back into the squad, maybe a bit of experience might have settled everyone down”, says Egan. “Day-to-day standards in training, [we] didn’t allow anyone to take their foot off the pedal. You’d obviously have to speak to the lads to see what they felt, but hearing Nathan say that was nice. It was good to come in and have a positive impact on the group. Seamus played every game and I was pushing hard in training so it was good to come in and be a positive help.” 

Driving standards, says Egan, comes down to not holding back at any moment.

“You have to want it and you have to show intensity and energy to train and to play”, says Egan. “I think setting the standards that way, mentality-wise, is really important. We have a group of lads who go out there on a Monday, everyone has played Saturday, but everyone is straight into training, full throttle and that’s what you want.”

Now 33, Egan’s return somehow felt both belated and one that may not have come again. Ireland had developed great depth at centre-back at the same time as Egan’s club career hit the skids. He was treated shabbily by long-term employers Sheffield United, told his contract would not be renewed while recovering from a long-term achilles injury. He joined a Burnley side built on a remarkable defensive record and struggled to break into the team, but a January 2025 move to Hull has returned Egan to regular Championship action and thus to the thoughts of Heimir Hallgrimsson. 

“It was a long time out of the fold, having been in the squad regularly”, says Egan. “I got a big injury and had to work hard to get back on the pitch at club level and then try and perform to a standard where I’d be called upon with Ireland. I think everyone knows how much playing for Ireland means to me. For me to get back in the squad was pleasing. To get back in for such important games and help the group was brilliant.

“Looking back now, I’ve had goals in my career and obviously after the injury one of the biggest goals I had long term was to get back into the Ireland squad. So I’ve managed to do that now and hopefully I can keep my form up at club level and if I get a chance with Ireland take it.”

He came off the bench for the closing minutes of defeat away to Portugal in October: another last-gasp heartbreaker for Ireland against Cristiano Ronaldo and co., but Egan agrees with Hallgrimsson’s assertion that their holding Portugal to relatively few chances first stirred the belief that followed in November and propelled them to this week’s World Cup play-offs. 

“Big results”, says Egan, “give you confidence.” 

There is a legion of believers now,  with thousands of Irish fans descending on Prague this week; far more than will fit in the Fortuna Arena, the capacity of which is shy of 20,000. 

“We are all Irish fans ourselves, if we weren’t in the squad we’d probably be trying to get a ticket, trying to go”, says Egan. “It’s fantastic, it’s great for everybody really to have something to look forward to, that’s what people want in life.”