A month or so ago David Meyler rather casually shrugged off the praise he received for his performance at right back against Oman with the suggestion that it would take rather more than that to shift Séamus Coleman from the position when the Everton defender was fit again.
Coleman, though, remains on the sidelines, and Meyler seems as surprised as anyone to be deputising again. He is careful not to presume that he will start against Germany tonight but, having come through Gibraltar without making the sort of big blunder that would presumably have prompted Martin O'Neill to rethink things, it's hard to see the northerner changing things in that department now.
Meyler is no natural in the position but he’s not a total stranger to it either, having also filled in there during his Sunderland days, again because of injuries to others.
Then and now, he does so without complaint, just glad, he says, to be getting his game. It’s an attitude that makes it easy to understand why his managers seem to like him. If he comes through this evening unscathed he’ll be pretty popular with the fans as well.
Difficult times
The 25-year-old has endured some difficult times since being signed by
Roy Keane
at the tail end of his teens. He had a while to wait for his debut, which came under Steve Bruce, and just as he seemed to be making real headway, a couple of serious injuries sidelined him for long spells, even threatening at one stage, it briefly seemed, to end his career.
Having done his cruciate in early 2010 at Old Trafford in a challenge with Patrice Evra, Meyler managed to return by that December. But in his fifth match back, at Aston Villa, he suffered another injury to the same knee. It turned out not to be as serious as was thought at first, but at the time the news seemed devastating, not least because of events back at home.
His mother, Stella, had just been diagnosed with cancer and the player linked his recovery to hers, resolving that the pair would overcome the challenges together, which they did.
He battled back within a matter of weeks and when Bruce took over at Hull City, he made it clear to the midfielder that the door would always be open for him if he fancied the move. The relationship blossomed last year, with Meyler becoming a mainstay of the team’s midfield where his energy and application proved a major asset.
For Ireland, meanwhile, he has been quietly establishing himself since he made his debut, also against Oman, a couple of years ago. Assuming he starts, though, tonight will be by far his biggest test with a Germany anxious, as Julian Draxler put it yesterday, to regain their “unbeatable status”.
That thought and a glance at Ireland’s 3-0 defeat in Cologne, where André Schürrle ran riot from out wide on the left, might be expected to cause the Corkman some concern, but instead he is focused on Saturday’s surprise defeat for the World Champions in Warsaw and the possibility that their wobble might be extended by a determined Irish display.
‘Try and learn’
“I watched them at the
World Cup
and appreciated the football,” he says. “As a footballer you try and learn from some of these players, the way they move, their passing and movement altogether. They’re so fluid. Credit to their manager, he has them all playing in a set way and they deserved their victory against Argentina even though, what? It took 115 minutes?
“Then, I just couldn’t believe it [on Saturday] because Germany had chances but couldn’t convert them,” he continues. “But that just shows you if you apply yourself in the right way . . . we will get chances, but we’ve got to take them; that’s the most important thing.
“I think they [the German players] will be annoyed with themselves for losing but it shows us we can go there and put up in a performance and get a result out there.
Losing players
“They are obviously feeling the effects of losing players to retirement so it’s an opportunity. It’s not going to be easy; they’re not going to make it easy for us. But then, we’re not going to lie down for them either, we’re going to make it hard for them too.
“We’re going to fight till the end and make a difficult game for them.
“The lads are confident; we’re coming off the back of two wins, building momentum and we’ve got a fantastic chance of qualifying for France, but it is places like this that you need to go and get results if you want to qualify.”
