Coleman excited to work under O'Neill & Keane

Seamus Coleman was one of the few bright sparks in an otherwise disappointing World Cup qualification campaign for the Republic of Ireland.

But the 25 year old ex-Sligo Rovers star is no longer the new kid on the block, as he continues his transformation into one of the more experienced squad members – even captaining the side in the absence of Robbie Keane at the latter end of the World Cup qualifying campaign

“There are a lot of young players coming through. Me and James (McCarthy) broke through during the last campaign, Robbie Brady broke through as well. It's exciting times under the new manager and assistant manager. We've all got a point to prove and hopefully we can impress them and stay in the team. We've got to start all over again and impress them because every manager is different.”

“I think everyone is excited. Everyone knows about Roy who was a fantastic player and someone we can all learn from, and Martin has been a fantastic manager so it's a brilliant appointment for Ireland. It's up to us now on the pitch to impress them.”

Coleman’s abiding memory of Keane was his performance against Juventus in the 1999 Champions League semi-final. He was the tender age of 11 at that stage, yet working with him now he doesn’t find himself star-struck.

“You've massive respect for someone like that but he's your assistant manager. You've got to get on with it and try to impress him. He's someone that I'm sure every single player has massive respect for and we can learn a lot from him.”

And the Roy Keane temper is something he is hoping he can avoid.

“I haven't seen that side of him yet. Hopefully I'll never be on the receiving end. In every job, your assistant manager and your manager, you have to have some kind of fear and respect for them. They're no different.”

Coleman will be hoping to win his 20^th cap against Latvia on Friday night, but as always he isn’t taking anything for granted.

“I've been around quite a while. My caps probably haven't shown that but I've been in the squad for about four years. I'm very comfortable with everyone but when I get on the pitch I just treat it like it's my first cap. I'm really enjoying it and hopefully we can have a successful time.”

Coleman wore the armband under Trapattoni, and it could be something he’d be interested in down the line. But for the time being he’s just happy to be playing, after watching from the periphery for such a long time.

“It's a massive honour for me, something you always want to do as a kid and thankfully I got to do it. I really enjoyed it but I'm just looking forward to getting playing again.

“It’s something I always wanted to do as a kid but Robbie will be about for a while. He's still scoring goals and he's someone we need. We'll see what the new managers think. I'm happy to be in the starting XI.”

Coleman didn’t get his just rewards for his displays in the last campaign, hopefully he gets that over the next two years.