After Martin O'Neill named the Ireland squad for Euro 2016, Roy Keane was asked about Darron Gibson's non-selection. It was about the first time anyone had spoken about Gibson throughout the course of the past week.
That Gibson had not been a topic of conversation is not particularly surprising given his lack of game-time this season at Everton after a supposed loan move fell through in February. Although Gibson did, rather surprisingly, play against former club Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final in April, the loan could have been a vital opportunity for him to prove his worth to O'Neill ahead of the squad being named. But it was a familiar tale of disappointment for a player who has, unfortunately, arguably been one of the greatest disappointments of this era of Irish football.
When Gibson dominated midfield against Tottenham Hotspur in the 2009 League Cup quarter-final, his long-range strikes and assured display provoked whispers that he could succeed Paul Scholes in the Red Devils' side, with Alex Ferguson predicting a career as "a really top player" for the Derryman at the start of that season. It was a promising spell, just a year after Giovanni Trapattoni had put his neck on the line by throwing the then-20 year old into the engine room alongside Glenn Whelan in a crucial World Cup qualifier against Cyprus at Croke Park and a month after Gibson had come on as a substitute in the heartbreaking 'Thierry Henry' game at the Stade de France.
Irish fans were hopeful that Gibson would develop into that increasingly rare figure: an Irishman pulling the strings at a top Premier League club. For the Boys in Green faithful, his club form and, mostly, his potential-provided some balm for the pain of World Cup qualification failure. That season, Gibson proved to be a trusted squad player under Ferguson, who typically put him on in the last twenty or so minutes of a game, his neat distribution and positional sense a handy asset to call upon in the tense final stages.
But 'Trap' wasn't happy, and urged Gibson to seek regular first-team football elsewhere, prompting a strong response from the promising 22 year old:
If he's trying to say that I should move somewhere like Stoke City and change my game to winning tackles and not winning games then he's having a laugh.
Mostly a substitute but still racking up 20 appearances at Old Trafford in the 2010-11 season, there remained the sense that Gibson's potential was as yet untapped, and most Ireland fans were as relieved as Trapattoni when he agreed to sign for Everton in January 2012. With the European Championships approaching, and having played a solid (if unspectacular) role in the qualification process-mostly as a sub-it was the perfect chance for him to stake a claim for a starting berth at the tournament. But despite a strong League campaign, and praise from Toffees captain Phil Neville-"(he) has to be one of the snips of the century"-Gibson remained glued to the bench in Poland and in the aftermath of the championships the former Northern Ireland under-16 player's international career appeared to be unravelling somewhat.
Unable to cope with the "disappointment" of Euro 2012, Gibson would remain self-estranged until redemption reared its fickle head, seeing him start an away World Cup qualifier against Germany in late 2013 under interim manager Noel King. Perhaps under new management we would finally see the blossoming of the player Ferguson had seen such a future for all those years ago.
But sport is cruel, and in the thirty-seventh minute of the following match at home to Kazakhstan that was evidenced in its full ugliness. Gibson's disconsolate figure, being carried off on a stretcher after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, told the full story. He knew then, as we do now, the impact that the injury could have on his future in a green jersey, and anyone who accuses him of apathy towards the national side could perhaps do worse than to examine his demeanour at that moment.
If truth be told, his career has never really recovered from that injury, and has resembled an unsatisfying melange of further injuries, personal issues and losses in form that Martin O'Neill admitted was "kind of worrying" late last year and from which Gibson has failed to recover in time to make the cut for France.
Looking through Ireland's midfield options, one cannot help but reminisce about the days when Irish football fans dared to consider Darron Gibson's potential. None of the nine players set to travel to France to compete for spots in the middle of the park for O'Neill's side have at any stage of their career demonstrated the same potential as Gibson once did when he was exciting the Stretford End as one of Fergie's new breed of United youngsters. As he trudged off the pitch against Belarus, his exit largely overshadowed by Wes Hoolahan's entrance, one could not help but feel that we never got to see the best of Darron Gibson. And what a pity that is.
