Soccer:It may only have been a brief cameo, but James McClean did his Euro 2012 prospects no harm at all as he made his eagerly anticipated Republic of Ireland debut during tonight's 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic. McClean was brought on 12 minutes from time and did enough in that short space of time to justify the clamour for his inclusion.
“I haven’t heard a noise that loud for a long time,” his Sunderland teammate John O’Shea said of the reception the young Derryman received from the Lansdowne Road crowd. “It’s fantastic, he deserves it and he’s made a huge impact a club level. We saw the few glimpses he got, the defenders are scared of him, they back off and he makes space for others. He’s been great and long may it continue.”
McClean himself wasn’t getting ahead of himself, but was absolutely thrilled to make his debut
“I was just delighted to get on,” explained the 22-year-old. “The reception I got coming on was just perfect. It’s the sort of thing, growing up as a kid you look forward to and dream of. I’m just over the moon to have made my debut.
“I was happy with any game time I was gonna get. Just to come on and make my debut was amazing and to come back and get a draw as well. It was a decent enough result for us. First and foremost my main focus is with Sunderland week-in win out. I just want to improve each week with Sunderland and you never know come the summer.”
Ireland’s sluggish start concened O’Shea, who noted Ireland won’t get away with that against Croatia, Italy or Spain in a few months time.
“We were a little bit flat,” O’Shea admitted. “Like on a lot of occasions, we kind of needed the goal to wake us up a bit and we finished the game very strongly which was kind of a pattern throughout the group as well. It’s something we have to improve on because going into the European Championships against the calibre of teams we’re going to face we can’t expect to give those teams a goal start and expect to come back from that.
“The squad has been improving all the time. Credit must go the manager there, he’s brought in the young lads at the right times. I think the training this week has been the sharpest I’ve seen in two or three years, that’s obviously because the Euros are coming and everyone wants to impress but we know there’s young lads there as well. It’s been a big boost for everyone having the young lads come in and keep everyone on their toes.”
