With David McGoldrick gone and most of his other, more obvious options struggling slightly at club level, Stephen Kenny has recalled Luton striker James Collins to his Ireland squad for the forthcoming games against England, Wales and Bulgaria.
The manager acknowledged that the 29 year-old had not made the impact he would have wanted himself in his two competitive games under Mick McCarthy but insisted that he has been a long time admirer both of Collins’s ability around the area and his wider presence on and off the pitch.
“His goal-scoring record is absolutely exceptional,” said Kenny, “about 150 goals in league football. He scores headed goals, he’s an aerial threat off crosses. He scores goals and his movement in the box is very good so he’s a different type of player.
“The two games that he played probably, in the last campaign, against Georgia and Switzerland, were tough games, away from home, that didn’t go to plan for him I think but I’ve always sort of admired his attitude because he seems to be a sort of leader for Luton . . . obviously getting so many goals, getting promoted.”
Kenny could, of course, do with all of those attributes in his team but Collins’s return is hardly unconnected with the departure of McGoldrick and the lack of first-team football that most of the potential frontmen are getting at their clubs right now.
The loss of the Sheffield United striker is a significant blow to a manager already under a bit of pressure to come up with some solutions to his side’s lack of goals. Not that McGoldrick generally threatened to address that particular issue directly himself but he undoubtedly improved the team’s wider attacking game, posing problems for opposing defences and bringing others around him into play.
His departure, the Dubliner acknowledged, is a disappointment but Kenny said the 32 year-old had always made it clear that his intention had been to depart at the end of the current campaign and that he had brought that date forward for a mix of personal and professional reasons; all of which the manager said he respected.
The personal ones, he said, should remain private unless the player himself opted to discuss them but the professional revolved around the loss of his place in the starting line-up back at Sheffield United since playing for 112 minutes in Slovakia.
“He had an injury that he played with against Slovakia,” he said. “It was in the groin area, the abductor, and it affected his training. It affected his training and he lost his place at Sheffield.
“I would have liked him to stay on as he has a positive impact on the young attacking players we have. But he has his reasons and I respect his reasons. That is the way life is. I certainly wish him well.”
McGoldrick, though, is not the only one to be frustrated by the amount of game time he was getting since the last international window, with Aaron Connolly having played just 12 minutes for Brighton since the Finland match. Shane Long has had 30 minutes, in total, since the start of the league campaign and Kenny said that simply wasn't enough to keep him competitive going into these games and so, like Seani Maguire, he has been omitted for the moment. Troy Parrott is left out too, although Kenny indicated that the teenager will feature in the under-21 squad to be named by Jim Crawford on Friday afternoon.
Kenny mounted a strong defence of Shane Duffy, meanwhile, insisting that the Derryman will settle in at Celtic and do well for the Scottish club despite criticism of some of his recent performances.
The 28-year-old may well, he suggested, have paid a price for being so committed to the Irish cause in the last window with the defender heading straight into an Old Firm game off the back of a gruelling three-match schedule that required a fair bit of travel and then some medical treatment.
“I think the culmination of these three games hurt him because he only went back to Scotland on the Thursday then had a major dental procedure that kept him up through the night, then had to play on Saturday at 12 o’clock against Rangers with no sleep. Then it was straight into Milan and Aberdeen in that week. So it was just a really, really tough run of fixtures.
“It was just after those three [international] games that he being criticised but he had started well for Celtic, they had kept clean sheets in Europe and he scored two goals.
“But Shane Duffy has been brilliant for Ireland: selfless, he plays with injuries, he’s a warrior and he’ll be a success at Celtic, I’ve no doubt about that.”
Republic of Ireland squad
Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (West Ham), Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (Bournemouth).
Defenders: Séamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Tottenham Hotspur), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United), Kevin Long (Burnley), Shane Duffy (Celtic, John Egan (Sheffield United), Dara O'Shea (West Brom).
Midfielders: Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), James McCarthy (Crystal Palace), Harry Arter (Nottingham Forest), Jeff Hendrick (Newcastle United), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Jayson Molumby (Brighton), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Jack Byrne (Shamrock Rovers).
Forwards: Callum Robinson (West Brom), Callum O'Dowda (Bristol City), James McClean (Stoke City), Aaron Connolly (Brighton), Adam Idah (Norwich City), James Collins (Luton Town), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth), Daryl Horgan (Wycombe Wanderers).
Fixtures
International Friendly
November 12th: England v Ireland, Wembley Stadium, 8pm
Uefa Nations League
November 15th: Wales v Ireland, Cardiff City Stadium, 5pm
November 18th: Ireland v Bulgaria, Aviva Stadium, 7.45pm
