We can only hope it doesn’t come to this
James McCarthy came in for some pretty severe criticism in the days after Ireland’s 1-1 draw with Poland last month.
His manager at Everton had to leap to his defence after Eamon Dunphy branded the 24-year-old “a terrible flop” and “wojusly overrated”.
Now Martin O’Neill has added his support for McCarthy and said that he hopes the snide criticism directed at the Scottish-born midfielder won’t make him think twice about lining up for Ireland in the future.
“Sometimes you  just have to take [criticism] in your stride,” O’Neill said. “Hopefully outside comments won’t prevent him from donning the shirt and wanting to do well. Remember he was the one who made the decision in the first place to come and play for us.”
O’Neill was speaking at the launch of the 2015 SportsWorld FAI Summer Soccer Schools programme and when pressed as to whether McCarthy possessed the mental strength to cope with the flak heading his direction he said:
“I’m hoping so. Sometimes it can take a wee bit of time depending on your personality. I’ve seen dominant boys at 19 and 20 who never change. I’ve seen less dominant people at 29 or 30 who’ve had 10 years of experience football but because of their personality have never changed.
“People are entitled to their comments and I genuinely do not have a problem with that. I thought that James got to grips with the game [against Poland] with his second half performance. In the first half I though he was tentative.
“For a dominant midfield player, as he can be in the Premier League, I want him to impose himself on the game and I genuinely thought he did that in the second half. That should give him a lift and give him some confidence.
“He hasn’t played that often for us so it was another opportunity for me to see him at international level. But i wasn’t just out to have a look at him. I wanted him to have a performance that would influence the game and influence how we play. I thought in the second half he got to grips with that and played much much better.
“But I’m hoping that James will take great heart from that performance and go on to perform to the ability that we all think he possesses.”
Another midfielder who (may) soon come into the reckoning for Ireland is Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish, who has started the last two games for Tim Sherwood’s side.
“He’s got in and he’s done fine,” O’Neill said.
“Has my opinion of the situation changed? Absolutely not. I think that these little games that he’s getting with Villa, and there’s a possibility that he’ll start in the semi-final of the FA Cup at the weekend which is great for him.
“For somebody that young to be starting on such a big stage is good news. But I’ll monitor it. I’ll keep an eye on it but I’m not going to start pressurising.
“I think it will take a wee bit more time [for him to prove he’s good enough for international level]. I think that you would have to assess someone starting in a game of football for a number of matches rather than coming on and showing little bits or rather than starting in a game and lasting 65 minutes or something like that. So, I would reserve judgment.”
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