Another week of international football and another performance from Wes Hoolahan to make us all look back and wonder what might have been. Maligned for being too small, unappreciated for being the most technically proficient footballer we've produced in quite some time, it's amazing he didn't pack it all in, move to the middle of no where and just stop interacting with all the mouth breathers.
Wes, you beautiful orchestrator of sexy football, please forgive us all for how you were wronged.
Forgive us for Trapattoni, forgive us for enjoying the build up to Euro 2012 without you and forgive us for accepting Martin O'Neill's suggestion that you could only turn it on in the cushy surroundings of the Aviva when we're playing the likes of Gibraltar. To be fair, that's stretching what the Ireland boss actually said but the point still stands.
Yet another man of the match performance against Slovakia on Tuesday has ensured plenty of column inches and plenty of pub conversations have this week been dedicated to Irish football's favourite lament over the past couple of years, what would have happened if Wes had been appreciated when he should have been?
Personally, I must stand, hand on heart, and admit that I'm a Johnny come lately to the Hoolahan bandwagon (Exhibit A your honour). But before they stick me in the stocks outside the GPO, let me explain.
I have faith. Perhaps we'll leave Trap aside in this but I have faith that Martin O'Neill, having worked closely with Wes Hoolahan knew better than I did. I had faith that Alex Neil, having watched Hoolahan every day of the week, had a perfectly good reason for leaving him out of last season's play-off semi-final against Ipswich. It had to be more than fear of quality and natural ability. In fact, how can such a fear even exist?
Pundits, columnists and thinkpiece gobshites like yours truly often make a living out of second guessing those in a position to act rather than think and that's absolutely necessary. Speaking truth to power is as important now as it ever was but surely there comes a point when you have to accept that, in a football context, pundits and fans don't know as much as managers.
Seeing a player in training every single day and knowing how he fits (or doesn't fit as the case may be) into a particular style or system is surely more important than stringing out generalised arguments about what's wrong with Irish football as a result of the treatment of one player.
It's just too easy to criticise managers for failing to throw caution to the wind and row in behind the populist opinion. It's up to the players to show that they can fit into a system that gets the most out of the entire team. It's up to the players to adapt and develop to ensure they're adding value to the unit. It's the manager's job to ensure that such players are given the opportunity to do that. And that's exactly what has happened with Wes Hoolahan and Ireland over the past twelve months.
Suggestions that Wes Hoolahan might retire after the end of Euro 2016 have inevitably and understandably brought out 'what if' thinking that has been such a feature of Wes' Ireland career. At 33, it's such a shame that he wasn't given the chance to demonstrate his abilities on the international stage over the past ten years. He wasn't appreciated by the general Irish sporting public when he was a youngster at Shelbourne and it's only now, ten years later, that he's finally getting the appreciation from Irish football that he deserves.
Or, and I say this with every bit of respect for Wes' ability and talent, perhaps it's only now in the twilight of his career that he's really deserving of the appreciation he's getting. Wes Hoolahan has always been a good footballer but perhaps there's a reason that Martin O'Neill has changed his tune and is willing to build his team around Hoolahan, regardless of venue or opposition. And as much as pundits may like to think they have that kind of effect, it sure as hell isn't the weight of popular opinion that changed O'Neill's mind.
Hoolahan may be entering his mid-thirties but has game has increasingly developed over the past couple of years to the extent that O'Neill simply can't leave him out of the starting XI. That's a testament to Hoolahan's ability but it's also a testament to O'Neill's ability to get what he wanted out of the Norwich man.
It may be regrettable that we won't be able to see Hoolahan at this level for much longer but that's no reason to engage in some kind of collective revisionism about what happened over the past few years. Hoolahan's late emergence is something to be celebrated, not regretted. He's strived to improve and become the player he is. Not everyone will agree of course but if you have any faith in the Irish management then you have to accept that Wes is a better player now than he was when Martin O'Neill was reluctant to play him away from home.
It's regrettable that we won't have Wes Hoolahan for ten more years but if we're looking back, we have to just accept that the previous ten years were used turning him into the brilliant player he is today. While we have him at this level, it's time to just enjoy it while it lasts instead of constantly looking for someone to blame. It's no one's fault, it's just the case of a talented footballer taking his time to round out his game to the extent that his potential was finally fulfilled.
