Wes Hoolahan will be 36 by the time the next competitive international fixture rolls around and it doesn’t even matter.
He could be 38 or 18 and it shouldn’t really come into it because, regardless, he still shows time and again that he’s the best footballer in the country.
Once more on Tuesday night, he sprung from the bench and it became so apparent that football is just easier for him than it is for most Irish players. Turning on the ball suddenly seems less like an ordeal and just more like something players should do automatically – for the first time it looks like something players can do.
Making a pass that might lead to a chance is immediately a new weapon in the arsenal which, up to the point of his introduction, boasts usually a collection of less sophisticated, more barbaric and limited pieces of ammunition. Holding onto the ball until a team mate becomes available in a better position finally becomes a possibility and, because of these simple moments which are often nothing very special at all, confidence spreads throughout the team because they know they can now look for the ball and they might get it where they want it and they can also play it back to this man if they’re in trouble because he’ll always be there as your out.
Whenever Wes Hoolahan gets praised, the reaction coming in the other direction genuinely says something like, ‘he’s not Zidane’. No, he’s not. But he’s the best that Ireland has.
It's time for #Wes pic.twitter.com/QxY9vYbyoW
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 14, 2017
At one stage on Tuesday night, he beat two men at the edge of the box just by drawing them in and dancing around them and he poked it to a player on the left, inside the box as another tackle came in. These brief moments of composure cause consternation in opposition backlines but Hoolahan is able to free up another team mate every time he gets onto the ball.
And, yet, in 12 games in this World Cup campaign, he’s featured in just six of them and he’s actually been left out for 66 per cent of the football that Ireland has played.
0 minutes: Serbia 2-2 Ireland
0 minutes: Ireland 1-0 Georgia
86 minutes: Moldova 1-3 Ireland
78 minutes: Austria 0-1 Ireland
0 minutes: Ireland 0-0 Wales
20 minutes: Ireland 1-1 Austria
0 minutes: Georgia 1-1 Ireland
61 minutes: Ireland 0-1 Serbia
79 minutes: Ireland 2-0 Moldova
0 minutes: Wales 0-1 Ireland
0 minutes: Denmark 0-0 Ireland
45 minutes: Ireland 1-5 Denmark
Wes Hoolahan has played 369 minutes of a possible 1080.
He’s only started four games – three of them they won, although two of those were against Moldova.
He’s ageing and he’s not playing every week for Norwich but he’s still by far and away the best man Ireland have to unlock backlines and to actually do something on the ball. That’s why, when shit hits the fan, O’Neill still calls on him. But that is why it’s strange that he doesn’t call on him more often.
Wes Hoolahan isn’t superman and, no, say it again, he’s not Zidane, but, at the age of 35, he’s still Ireland’s most exciting and most reliable option going forward. This country might not have good 18 to 21-year-olds obviously making a breakthrough on the big stage already but why does that even matter? When do they really have those outside of that deviant generation? What they do have is a batch of finished articles – however they got there – and that is far more important than having potential.
The only reason you want those good youngsters in the pipeline is so they can shine when they hit their prime. If you constantly invested in youth, you’d never appreciate the players you have at their peak and there’d be no point in investing in youth if you’re not doing it to reap the rewards.
Hoolahan might be past his prime but, relatively, he can do a job that no-one else in the Irish squad can. You invest in youth to produce players like Wes – if you’re lucky enough – and, whatever number is beside his name, we still have him right now.
Still delivering. Still the best. Whatever age he is.
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