AT 32-years-old and a series of niggling injuries, we shouldn’t really have been surprised with David McGoldrick’s decision to retire from international football.
Only last month Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny was pleasantly surprised by just how motivated and ambitious the striker was to keep playing on the international stage.
That's why McGoldrick's announcement wrong-footed everyone.
McGoldrick, who won a desperately meagre 14 caps across a six-year period for Ireland, was recalled from the international wilderness by Mick McCarthy for the Euro 2020 qualification campaign. The pair worked together at Ipswich Town.
McCarthy knew exactly what McGoldrick would bring to the table. Upon McCarthy’s exit and Kenny’s arrival, nobody really knew the striker’s intentions.
“When I took over, Sheffield United looked like they were going to qualify for Europe, which meant extras games,” said Kenny.
“He’s a family man, a good sized family. He’s 32, nearly 33. You wonder whether a player would say: ‘I’ve to focus on my club’ because it happens a lot at that age group. But that wasn’t what I got from him at all; I got quite the opposite.”
One truth that emerged from the last campaign was McGoldrick had become Ireland’s best player and an essential element despite being the wrong side of 30.
If there wasn’t enough compelling evidence in the Euro 2020 qualifiers under McCarthy, McGoldrick immediately revealed his worth to the team when introduced midway through the second half in last month’s Nations League tie against Finland before producing a man-of-the-match display against Slovakia.
Resisting overtures from Scotland, McGoldrick made his international debut in a 4-1 friendly win over USA in November 2014. His ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play that night were glowing features of his game before he made way for Shane Long towards the end.
Afterwards, you always wondered whatever happened to David McGoldrick as the-then manager Martin O’Neill decided to invest in Daryl Murphy, Jonathan Walters and Shane Long while Robbie Keane was entering the final throes of his international career.
McGoldrick fitted neatly into a box: Championship player; not a prolific scorer and therefore a bit of a luxury.
But amid the austere nature of the English game, a small band of brave coaches emerged from the dog-eat-dog environs of the lower division.
A select number of promoted Championship clubs felt that playing survival, hope-for-the-best type of football would not actually deliver for them, and that if they didn’t possess a more nuanced, layered, possession-based game-plan, route one football would almost guarantee immediate relegation.
That’s why Aston Villa’s Dean Smith, Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder and, of course, Leeds United’s Marcelo Bielsa deserve so much credit in the way their teams approach the challenges of the English Premier League, and where their gallant efforts shine an unforgiving light on the lack of evolution at journeymen clubs like Burnley.
But what's that got to do with David McGoldrick?
Well, there was a greater need for more nuanced, more versatile strikers than the heroic target man who would chase lost causes all day, never reach double figures and his team would be doomed by January.
The market value of players like McGoldrick has increased. All of a sudden there was room at the Inn for skilled Championship operators like him in the big league.
There are not many play-making forwards around – but maybe we’ll see more of these kinds of players emerge over the next few seasons as long as others see encouraging results from the newly promoted sides.
Although he doesn’t always start games, McGoldrick seems a perfect fit for Chris Wilder at Sheffield United whose team likes to play through the lines.
It may sound strange but judging McGoldrick on goals alone doesn’t get near what he can bring to the teams he plays for. He only scored one goal in 14 appearances for Ireland – a crucial equaliser against Switzerland last autumn.
Even though he turns 33 at the end of this month, McGoldrick was only finding his stride on the international stage.
Young Adam Idah of Norwich City, who found the going tough in Nations League games against Bulgaria and Finland, looks to have the skills set to come good at senior level but it's still early.
Troy Parrott, not named in yesterday's squad for the England, Wales and Bulgaria games, hasn’t had many opportunities at on-loan Millwall while Aaron Connolly has made the best start to his senior international career and could be moved into a more central role vacated by McGoldrick.
While Stephen Kenny is happy to invest heavily in Idah, Connolly and Parrott heading into the World Cup qualifiers, the squad will miss McGoldrick’s quality and experience.
He could have been still the man for Ireland, but when you break everything down we probably shouldn’t have been that surprised by Wednesday’s announcement.
With injuries and age and Covid19 still carrying the potential to cause serious havoc with the international calendar and, let’s be honest, Qatar isn’t the most anticipated World Cup finals there’s ever been, as well as McGoldrick wanting to get more game-time at Sheffield United (he’s played just one full league game, against Arsenal, this season) it’s easy to see why he’s stepped away.
He just so happens to be Ireland’s most creative player currently, which is a crying shame he’s gone.
It’s also a pity he was so under-used over the last six years because he had so much more to offer.
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AFTER over eight months I made a long-awaited return to Solitude to watch Cliftonville play Glentoran in the Co Antrim Shield semi-final on Tuesday night.
I had the privilege of watching these two teams battle it out for a place in the Irish Cup final at an empty Windsor Park back in July.
On Tuesday evening, it was good for the soul to watch a game of football with a few hundred socially distanced supporters from both clubs.
In these difficult times, any snatches of normality we experience should be embraced rather than them being unfairly derided for some perceived disregard for the virus.
There is palpable stress on clubs to accommodate restricted numbers for games – but the event planning at Solitude on Tuesday night and the extremely orderly entry of supporters to the ground was clear evidence that this can be executed in a safe, viable manner.
As a society under siege, I hope attending such sporting events can be preserved rather than rushing to lock the gates at the first sign of the ‘R’ rate increasing.
I also hope as many Northern Ireland fans as possible can attend next week’s Euro play-off showdown with Slovakia at Windsor Park – in a safe and keenly managed way.
It’s so important we don’t shut out the light on sport.
