He looked, as he left the pitch at Wembley barely 10 days ago, as if he would prefer to crawl under a rock than go on an end-of-season international tour. Time is a great healer, though, and as he prepared to board a plane for New York with the rest of the Republic of Ireland squad yesterday, Richard Keogh looked more like a man who has a point to prove.
At the end of the play-off final, team-mates, and even the odd opponent, took the time to tell the Derby County defender not to beat himself up over the mistake which handed Bobby Zamora and QPR their late winner. Without him, they insisted, the team would never have made it that far.
The message seems to have struck home, with Keogh – twice the player of the year at the club over the last three years and a big performer again over the course of the Championship campaign – regaining his confidence again since joining up with the Irish squad.
"It's probably the best thing I could have done," he said of answering the call-up while standing pitch side in Malahide after the final training session prior to yesterday's departure.
“Everyone has been great, it’s kind of ‘forget about it a little bit and concentrate on the football’. Looking back, it was a disappointing end to the season for the club but unfortunately, that’s football. I can’t let one thing like that mask over how well I’ve done this season. I feel like I’m in good form. I’m training well; I’m looking forward now to hopefully getting some pitch time.”
There’s been little enough of that to date for the Harlow-born player but when he has featured for Ireland, he has not looked out of place. He has even chipped in with a goal in the game against Georgia and must feel that he is contention to start more regularly in the heart of the defence, where one of the places is very much up for grabs.
‘Stake a claim’
“If I’m given a chance in America, hopefully I can stake a claim but there is a lot of competition for places and I know there is a few missing out. It is an opportunity to impress the manager again after the Serbia game,” he said.
Playing Premier League football on a regular basis next season would have provided him with a more impressive stage on which to catch Martin O’Neill’s eye and he will have been disappointed last night to learn upon arrival in America that Ronaldo is set to miss next week’s friendly, as he had rather fancied testing himself against one of the game’s greats.
Ultimately, though, he insists that he is happy to do it all again in the Championship again after what will be a very short summer break. “Yeah,” he insisted, “I’m back on July 1st but that doesn’t bother me; I was always coming here, I love playing football.
“I’ve had a solid season and there might be a bit of interest [from other clubs] but I’ve got a year left on my deal and it’s great being captain so I’m sure the club will sort everything out so I can get on with my life and get focused on pre-season.”
In the meantime, he admits, it is good to know that Roy Keane will be sticking around. "It's fantastic, great news for us. Every speech he gives, you listen to; he's a fantastic guy and when he gives you advice you listen.
“I think he enjoys it here, I think he enjoys passing on information and helping us improve as players, so it’s great for the country and everything is moving forward.
“When he needs to say things he will say them but he really helps us, certain aspects of your game he will speak to you about and when someone of his stature speaks to you, you can’t but listen. I am sure he has his reasons for staying and the Italy game was good, but now we have two more games and we have to build on where we are now for the qualifiers.”
