John Egan on captaining Ireland: ‘It is the pinnacle really’

John Egan captained Ireland for their first win under Stephen Kenny last week and with Seamus Coleman unfit to travel to Budapest, he seems set to skipper the Boys in Green in Tuesday’s friendly away to Hungary.

Egan is keen to build on the momentum of their 4-1 win over Andorra but it is a different challenge they face next against a Hungary team that will be playing in the European Championship.

“It is a huge honour to play for your country and to wear the armband is special and something I’m really proud to have done,” said Egan speaking to the Irish and Hungarian footballer media via Zoom on the eve of the friendly. “It is the pinnacle really.

“It is very important to end [the season] on a high. We want to building on the good result from the other night. Hungary are going to the Euros and are a good side. We are going out to get a positive result.”

extratime.com asked Egan what confidence can the Boys in Green take from last week’s win against Andorra – Ireland’s first victory in the dozen matches of the Kenny era. 

“We can take confidence from scoring the four goals to get the win. It has been a while coming. To go there and go 1-0 down there was a lot of pressure on people but we stayed calm and showed our quality. Scoring those good goals can only give you confidence.”

Hungary are in a group at the Euros containing France, Germany and Portugal – the latter team will be Ireland’s next opponents when the World Cup qualifiers start again in September.

“They are a really good team and are going to the Euros. It is going to be a tough game. It might be a friendly but we want to build momentum. Obviously, with no disrespect, we expect to be beating Andorra. We did that and now we're coming up against an established outfit in Hungary. 

"They've obviously qualified for a major tournament, so it's going to be a tougher game. But you know, we're confident. We've been enjoying training and there has been probably a bit of a relief and a bit of a smile on people's faces after the win which is good.”

Egan played alongside Dara O’Shea in the principality last Thursday and was very complimentary about the centre-half and the other young players coming through into the Republic of Ireland team. 

“Dara made the step-up to Premier League football and international football, and he took to it really well,” said Egan. “He's a consistent performer.

“He's a really good player and to see someone so young come in and be so composed is fantastic. He is a great lad as well, he wants to learn and wants to improve.

“We have some really good centre halves. It's healthy competition. We're all driving each other on to be better and that should work out well for the team.

“We have a lot of young players coming through all over the park now, the competition in the whole squad is getting better and that's the key for players to drive themselves on and try to get into the team.”

Confidence the key for Matt Doherty https://t.co/qPBXPdps9Dpic.twitter.com/LckPygVU4M

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) June 6, 2021