AMERICA IS A country of extremes: this is why Kevin O’Toole talks from pre-season training in California with sun on his back as his girlfriend looks out across a frozen Hudson river back home in New York. 

O’Toole speaks to The 42 as New York City FC are gearing up for the new Major League season, and to reflect on one of the most extreme introductions to Irish football any footballer has ever experienced. 

The American-born defender was the shock inclusion in Heimir Hallgrimsson’s injury-depleted squad for last November’s World Cup qualifiers with Portugal and Hungary, and we feel like telling him, Kevin, mate, it isn’t always quite this good. 

O’Toole was on the bench for the Portugal game but didn’t make the matchday squad against Hungary, though he naturally still had a good view of Troy Parrott’s epic, absurd winning goal. 

“I remember not being sure if the ball had actually crossed the line,” says O’Toole, “and once I saw it ripple the net, I was just sprinting onto the field to join the dog pile in celebration. It’s a core memory, for sure, and one I’ll carry with me forever.

“The moment isn’t lost on me. A lot of guys shared that it was their best week with the national team in their lifetime, so for it to be my first camp and have that experience: I feel blessed to have been involved with the group.”

O’Toole was born in New York to ancestry from Ireland and Venezuela, and so was eligible to represent Ireland via his grandfather, Eric, who emigrated from Dun Laoghaire in 1958. He went to Princeton University – where he graduated with a degree from their School of Public and International Affairs – and while studying he continued to train with New York Red Bulls’ second team. After leaving college he was drafted by their city rivals, for whom he has become the regular left-back. 

He has been blinking faintly on the edge of Ireland’s radar since Stephen Kenny’s time in charge, and with Ireland without all of Robbie Brady, Callum O’Dowda, and Josh Honohan at left-back for the November camp, Heimir Hallgrimsson put in a call to New York. O’Toole arrived ahead of the rest of the players and so sat down for lunch with Hallgrimsson, over which they discussed tactics and what was expected over the forthcoming camp. 

“He caught me off guard,” says O’Toole. “I wasn’t expecting so much of a personal introduction to him and the staff and the team, so I was really grateful for that. It shows that if you earn a call-up he really believes in you.” 

Seamus Coleman helped the settling-in period, turning up outside O’Toole’s hotel door to welcome him and ask what could be done. “It comes down to how he cares so much,” says O’Toole when I ask him to explain Coleman’s leadership qualities.

“That’s the driving force behind his leadership. It comes naturally to him because he cares so much about his teammates and he cares so much about the staff and the country. He sent me a text after the camp, thanking me for my contribution even though I didn’t play a single minute. That’s just a reflection on the type of person he is, and it comes from a place of caring so deeply about his country.” 

O’Toole also had completed all the rituals expected of the new kid fitting in. Having been told some members of the squad liked country music, for his initiation song he deviated from his regular karaoke song – I’m Yours, by Jason Mraz – and went for Whiskey Glasses by Morgan Wallen. 

“I flopped,” he laughs, remembering the wall of silence with which he was met. “Fortunately I don’t have to do that again.” 

Now his job is to be around to judge the next initiation song. He would have been involved in the squad’s January training camp and friendly matches had the plan gone ahead, and so instead is reliant on making a fast start to the new MLS season to prove worthy of inclusion for next month’s World Cup play-offs.

“Obviously I am not Irish-born,” he says, “but being Irish-American, I have the utmost respect for the culture in the country and joining the group I wasn’t sure how I’d be received, but all the guys were super welcoming. I’m super eager to get back in and rejoin everyone in March.”

Ireland’s left-back options remain thin – all of Brady, O’Dowda and Honohan remain sidelined – though pre-season has seen O’Toole shifted into a midfield role. His November call-up meant he was one of the few people on Earth to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi up close in quick succession, watching Ronaldo storm off down the tunnel at the Aviva before his New York City side were knocked out of the MLS playoffs by Messi and Inter Miami.

His lesson from seeing Messi up close is the genius economy of his movement: he’ll languish offside for long enough to drag defenders deep and open spaces between the lines for him. And as history has taught us, Sergio Busquets will find Messi in precisely those dangerous spaces. 

O'Toole in action against Lionel Messi in a September 2024 MLS clash. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Busquets has now retired, adding a small wrinkle to Messi and Miami’s title defence, though they are, of course, still favourites. O’Toole’s aim is to go one step further with New York City this year: having been beaten in the equivalent of the semi-finals last year, he wants to go one step further and play in the first MLS Cup final of his career. They begin their season against LA Galaxy on Sunday. 

On the topic of extremes: nothing in Irish sport provokes greater emotions than the national football team at a World Cup, and November’s miracle has moved O’Toole and his new team-mates to that precipice, and a summer spent in O’Toole’s homeland.