SOCCER:Wes Hoolahan has enjoyed a dream season with Norwich City which will see him play in the Premiership next season, writes EMMET MALONE
THE CELEBRATIONS after Norwich secured promotion back to the Premier League on Monday night were, according to Irish midfielder Wesley Hoolahan, “incredible”. However, the icing on the cake, he suggested yesterday, would be to have his already outstanding season extended by a week or two courtesy of Giovanni Trapattoni who names his Republic of Ireland squad for the games against Northern Ireland, Scotland, Macedonia and, most likely, Italy, in Athlone this afternoon.
However, there was no word yesterday to suggest he would be included in what promises to be another bumper panel, but Hoolahan knows that even if he is overlooked this time he will be in a far better place to impress the Italian after the summer when, five years after leaving Shelbourne for the first of his three British clubs to date, he should finally get to make his debut in the English top flight.
“It’ll be a challenge, a big challenge but I look at the likes of Keith Fahey at Birmingham and Kevin Doyle at Wolves, lads who have also played in the League of Ireland but who have been brilliant for their current clubs, and it would be great if I could make the same sort of impact.
“After that it would just be a case of looking to keep playing well and hope I get noticed (by Trapattoni). Obviously I’d love to get the chance to play for Ireland again and hopefully playing in the Premier will put me in a better position to get to do that now.”
Hoolahan has only one senior cap to his credit so far, a fleeting appearance at the tail end of the friendly against Colombia in Craven Cottage in May of 2008. At the time he was doing well at Blackpool but his reputation has been dramatically enhanced over the course of his three seasons at Norwich, not least the one just finished with his 10 goals and hugely positive influence from just behind the strikers playing a big part in the club’s remarkable success just 12 months after promotion from League One.
Before Hoolahan had left Shelbourne (for Livingston in 2006), Don Givens observed he was the sort of player who, despite his “outstanding ability” might struggle in the lower English division but could thrive at the top level where he would actually benefit from playing against a better brand of defender.
The former Republic of Ireland manager has been proven wrong on the first count with Hoolahan becoming a regular in the end-of-season PFA divisional teams over the last few years but there is a strong sense he might be right about the second with the former winger developing into a major creative talent playing at the forward tip of the diamond formation employed by Paul Lambert over the last couple of seasons. It is, as it happens, just the role that Trapattoni has said he would like to have someone capable of playing in his side.
“Yeah, the manager switched me there, in the middle, just off the striker and he got me scoring goals. It’s been great, I’ve made it into double figures in each of the last two years and the challenge now is to try and do it again at the highest level.
“Obviously it’s worked well for me and for Norwich; to do it at international level is a different thing again but it would be great to get the chance to show what I can do,” says Hoolahan, who is a leading candidate for the club’s player-of-the-year awards over the coming week or so.
Paddy Kenny, as it happens, picked up both of QPR’s – the players’ and the supporters’ – but remains unlikely to be included by Trapattoni today. In fact, the list is expected to contain few surprises with most of the established players included with the qualifying game in Skopje in mind and several of those who have impressed in recent auditions for the Italian likely to get further run-outs in the Carling Cup games.
The intention is to wrap things up for the season with a further friendly, after the Macedonia match, against Italy, which is set to be announced for June 7th. The venue for that has yet to be confirmed but the Italian federation said yesterday it will not be in Italy, and Brussels, or at least Belgium, is now the most likely venue.
Rarely shy about giving his players advice on what they should do in order to maximise their chances of playing for Ireland, Trapattoni may be planning to have a word with Seán St Ledger and Keith Treacy (both Preston) over the coming weeks as the pair currently face the prospect of playing in League One next season.
Both are likely to be included today although St Ledger is currently laid up with a knee injury and Treacy’s form for his club has again attracted criticism from manager Phil Brown.
There might also be some indication today of how Trapattoni’s dealings with those players who have expressed an interest in declaring for Ireland have been progressing.
Marco Tardelli confirmed last month a number were being monitored while Givens has confirmed talks have taken place with Derry-born Shane Ferguson about the Newcastle teenager, who can play at left back or on the left side of midfield, switching his allegiance from Northern Ireland. The 19-year-old could even get a call-up this afternoon.
