Before David Meyler disappeared into Ireland's deep preparation for today's crucial World Cup qualifier versus Wales at the Aviva Stadium, he joined our own Mikey Traynor for a chat on The Balls.ie Football Show and a couple of games of FIFA.
The Cork-born 27-year-old might well find himself involved in Martin O'Neill's side to face the Welsh in Dublin, what with Ireland currently decimated by injuries and Meyler's own superb display in Vienna during their November victory in Vienna.
The Hull City midfielder reflected fondly on the Euros, and revealed the Ireland players were "effing and blinding" poor ol' Wesley Hoolahan when he missed his guilt-edged opportunity against Italy. Soon afterwards, of course, all was forgiven. Meyler also deep-dived into his passion for playing EA Sports FIFA, taking on former professional FIFA player and Irish champion Mikey in a grudge match which has bubbled in the murky world of Twitter DMs for some time. You can listen to the full episode below.
Meyler also shed some light on Martin O'Neil and, in particular, Roy Keane, who signed him straight from Cork City's under-21s squad in 2008.
The former Corinthians and Cobh Ramblers midfielder revealed the culture of manic effort both O'Neill and Keane have cultivated in the current Ireland setup, and explained how Keane continues to try to improve Meyler's game almost a decade after bringing the Rochestown man over from their native county.
The two of them are winners. The manager has won two European Cups [as a player], he's been successful at every club. You know, obviously Roy is regarded as the greatest Manchester United captain. You look at what he achieved at Manchester United, with seven Premier Leagues. They're winners. They've set their stall high, and they won't leave anyone drop below that. And I think that's the way it should be, and that's why we've started this campaign well.
Obviously, Roy signed me at Sunderland and gave me a great opportunity. I could sit here and talk about Roy all day, because I grew up in Cork, and obviously he was the greatest midfielder in the Premier League. Even though he'd probably disagree with that, but he was. [To] any Cork kid - I say Cork kid, abut to any Irish kid, Manchester United fan - he was. He was superb.
Considering I first met him probably nine years ago, he's helping me now, he's trying to improve me. He wants the best, and that's why he was so successful. He won't settle for not trying your hardest. We can all misplace passes, we can all miss tackles, but you can still go out, you can run around, and you can work hard. They're the standards he sets. Whether he's the manager, the assistant manager, you have to maintain those levels. He wants us to succeed.
You can listen to Meyler's full chat with Balls.ie on iTunes, and you can subscribe to the Balls.ie Football Show here.
