Soccer

Injured Republic ace Jack Byrne eyeing bright future with club and country

Jack Byrne. Picture by Sportsfile
Jack Byrne. Picture by Sportsfile Jack Byrne. Picture by Sportsfile

IT has been a bumpy road since Jack Byrne landed in Cyprus earlier this year – but the Republic of Ireland international is confident that there will be brighter days ahead with club and country once he regains full fitness.

The Dublin playmaker swapped Shamrock Rovers for Cypriot giants Apoel Nicosia in January, snapped up by Mick McCarthy, the man who had handed Byrne his debut in the green jersey against Bulgaria in 2019.

However, despite having only taken over Apoel in November, former Republic boss McCarthy was sacked days after the 24-year-old’s arrival.

Byrne shrugged that off and managed to force his way into the plans of new boss Savvas Poursaitidis, only for a herniated disc – and a subsequent operation last week – to rule him out for at least two months.

“I was able to train, it wasn’t holding me back but it’s a disc herniation so you could wake up one morning and it just doesn’t feel like you can go,” said Byrne, speaking on a Zoom call from Nicosia yesterday to promote SPAR’s FAI School Zone.

“I’ve never had it before. I came out here and played the first couple of weeks then it just got a little bit too sore to carry on. It was a joint decision with the club for me to get back 100 per cent, fully fit to play.

“I’m eight days after the operation and I feel a hell of a lot better now. I just have to let it heal, that might be two weeks, four weeks, then you start your rehab. Certainly I’d be optimistic that by June time I’d feel able to play.

“The club have been great with me since I came in, obviously it’s unfortunate that I got the injury so soon but they’ve been really supportive. I’m just looking forward to getting back fit now and giving it a good go.”

And despite having only been a part of the squad for two months, it was clear Byrne has made an instant impact as Apoel team-mates held up a jersey bearing his name after taking the lead in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Pafos.

“Yeah it’s good – it just shows the group of players that we have.

“Even if I’m not playing, I want to feel like I’m part of something, that’s the way you have to be when you’re involved in football. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the lads since I’ve come in here.

“It was a nice gesture that they would do that for me because I haven’t been here that long.”

Bidding farewell to McCarthy so soon after touching down on Cypriot soil was a shock, Byrne admits, but he has adapted well to life in his new surroundings ever since.

McCarthy has gone on to spearhead Cardiff’s Championship promotion push and, having spent time in England and Scotland earlier in his career, Byrne is well aware of the ever-changing landscape of football management.

“That’s football,” he says.

“I was in talks with the club for a while before I came out here, it didn’t just happen in one day. I’d been speaking to the president and got really good vibes off them.

“Obviously Mick was a big factor in me coming here, but it wasn’t just Mick. It happened to me at Wigan as well, before I was even fit to play a game Warren Joyce got the sack and I had signed a three-and-a-half year contract.

“These things happen. You’re probably never going to have the same manager for more than two or three years most of the time. It wasn’t a big issue when he was sacked because the length of the contract I signed, two-and-a-half years, showed the club wanted me here and saw a plan for me here.”

Had it not been for injury, Byrne would have been pushing for a starting spot in Stephen Kenny’s Republic of Ireland side for the upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg.

Kenny has enjoyed a tough start to his tenure as Irish boss, and is still searching for a first win after taking over the reins from McCarthy last summer.

From his own League of Ireland experience, though, Byrne knows all about the strengths of the former Dundalk boss – and believes he has the tools to steady the ship in the months ahead.

“What’s gone on since the manager has gone in there has been difficult. Nobody would have expected Covid to come and what it’s done to the world, and the world of football.

“He’s still yet to have a full stadium there with 40-odd thousand Irish fans going crazy – that’s missed a lot because they’re obviously a huge factor in how Ireland play most of the time.

“Everyone’s confident, everyone’s looking forward to it [the start of the World Cup qualifying campaign] and I have to thank Stephen because he was on the phone to me straight away when he heard I was getting the operation. That shows the kind of person he is.”