Sport

Stephen Quinn intends to make the most of his big break

The Republic of Ireland's Stephen Quinn during a training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles on Saturday<br />Picture by AP&nbsp;
The Republic of Ireland's Stephen Quinn during a training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles on Saturday
Picture by AP 
The Republic of Ireland's Stephen Quinn during a training session at the Stade de Montbauron in Versailles on Saturday
Picture by AP 

STEPHEN QUINN comes from good footballing stock. His elder brother Alan won eight caps for Ireland, while younger brother Keith was also a professional at Sheffield United.

He has been around the Republic squad since 2008 and now, aged 30, his big break has finally come and he intends to make the most of it. With his distinctive red hair, Quinn has been in the middle of the high jinks in Ireland’s Versailles hotel - Trianon Palace - where his team-mates routinely spring out from behind corners to “give me frights and stuff”.

He says: “Shane Long’s killing me, he is” and added “we’re a bunch of babies, we are”. A bit of messing around kills the time between training sessions and Quinn isn’t the only one who has had the mickey taken out of him.

Richard Keogh fell into a trap too: “We just called him into Robbie’s room and said Robbie wants to have a chat, he’s not happy with you or whatever,” said the Dubliner.

“There are interconnecting rooms with Shay Given and Robbie and we sent him into Shay’s room, where we were all videoing him and, when he came in, he just looked so scared. It was good craic. We have to keep each other occupied, they’re long days and it takes your mind off things, as well having a bit of fun.”

Of course, the serious stuff begins on Monday against Sweden at Stade de France. If Shane Long popping out from behind the sofa gives Quinn frights, he’ll have a few more when he sees Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But that’s the way he likes it: “Most of my career, I’ve always felt those nerves, but I have learned to deal with them and actually accept them,” the combative Reading midfielder said.

“If I don’t get them, I’ll be thinking ‘I don’t think I should be going out to play’, but I think you have to handle the nerves in the right direction and I actually crave that feeling of the nerves or the butterflies - it gives me that edge and it gets me pumped for games.

“If I don’t have that, there’s no point in me going out onto the pitch. I’ve never doubted myself, you have to back yourself and believe in your team-mates as well and I think we have that in abundance in the squad. If someone gives the ball away, all our lads will back them up in abundance, we have that in the group that we’ll work our nuts off for each other.

Quinn was never a certain starter in Ireland’s qualifying campaign, but he did well when called upon and played in the win against Georgia and the draw in Germany. His assured performance in the recent friendly against Holland guaranteed his place in the squad.

“I played in a lot of games,” he said.

“Maybe I’ve gained his [Martin O’Neill’s] trust a little bit throughout the campaign. Obviously, I got injured towards the end and that’s when I needed to push on with Reading and play as many games as I could since Christmas. Then obviously, I had to take my chance when I came to it against Holland and I’d like to think I did that.”

If he is picked to start on Monday night - although that seems unlikely, with James McCarthy now fit and Glenn Whelan and Jeff Hendrick both ahead of him - there won’t be a prouder man in Paris.

“It will probably be the second proudest moment of my life after my kids being born,” he said.

“It’s the pinnacle of everyone’s career, it’s the second best tournament in the world, apart from the World Cup. So it’s the pinnacle of my career at the minute and I’m delighted to be here, obviously. But there is no point in just being happy to be here, we want to try and progress.

“We’ve got a great chance with the way the format is in the groups and stuff. Everyone is proud back at home, but there is no point in getting here and thinking that’s the job done.

“We need to get out and actually, playing against Holland, playing against Germany, we can beat these teams. There is no question about it so, if we go in with that belief like we can, the team spirit that we have, the hard work, there is no reason why we can’t beat these teams.”