Playing McGoldrick Remains A Very Big Risk

We all know that the Republic of Ireland are desperate to make it the the World Cup finals and we all know that David McGoldrick is equally desperate to be involved but how much of a risk is this to the Tractor Boys?

I guess we can only begin to assess the risk to the Blues when and if he enters the fray but because of the importance of their next two matches, the chances are the Irish will expect him to play some part.

Now McGoldrick came off early against Bristol City with a tight hamstring and yet he was reluctantly allowed to travel with the Irish squad – although Town manager Mick McCarthy thought it was probably unlikely at one stage at the weekend.

The fact that Republic of Ireland boss Martin O’Neill says that he is fine is of little consolation to to Town fans, who fear the worst, if he plays any part in proceedings.

You only have to look at the treatment of James McCarthy to know that Ireland will take big risks in order to play their stars.

Assistant manager Roy Keane blamed Everton for keeping the player under wraps for so long and his limited involvement at Everton this term.

Keane said: ‘James seems to be getting a lot of injuries at Everton so I don’t think we’ve anything to be worried about in terms of how much we push James.’

He continued, ‘James joined in today, he probably did about 70% of what the other players would have done.
I spoke to him and he seemed to be ok. We don’t want him to over-do it but at some stage you’ve got to join in, get involved and play some sort of eleven v eleven if you can.’

But McCarthy has recently been struggling with a persistent knee injury and yet on on Monday, the Ireland manager Martin O’Neill refused to rule him out of the upcoming qualifiers; starting with their game at home to Moldova, which is due to be televised live on Sky Sports Football from 7:15 pm this Friday.

And there, in a nutshell, is my greatest fear. The Irish are prepared to risk anyone in their single sighted goal of collective international success and the club v country debate seems as heated as ever.

A hamstring injury can take a long time to heal and given the injury prone nature of the player, it would surely have been wiser to have rested it for a while.

Manager Mick McCarthy is also proud of his Irish roots, and I suspect he is just as desperate to see the Republic qualify but at what cost to Ipswich Town football club?

Frank Weston – Editor of Vital Ipswich