Roy Keane's absurdly entertaining interview in the Olympia Theatre for Barretstown reminds us of his true calling as a 43 year old man. Entertaining crowds of people at charity nights.
Ireland are faring less well in this qualifying campaign and Keane spoke frankly about the lack of Irish players among the top clubs in the Premier League.
As things stand, there will be no Irish player under the age of 25 in the Premier League.
Where are these players? How come they’re not at the bigger clubs? It’s definitely a worry.
First and foremost when we’re talking about selecting a squad, ideally you want them out in the Premiership and playing every week. It doesn’t always pan out that way.
When you’re talking about selecting players I want them playing at the top clubs and playing every week. And when I say the top clubs I mean the Man Uniteds and playing in the Champions League.
We will suffer on the international front and some of our players aren’t regular in the Championship.
He does not accept that we can blame it all on the greatly expanded reach of English clubs in terms of recruitment.
We can’t make excuses for Irish players just because clubs are recruiting from Africa and further away. If you’re good enough and hungry enough you have to compete with that. You have to roll your sleeves up and get on with it.
It’s frightening to think none of our lads are really competing. It’s a big problem and it’s not a quick fix.
