- Dan Lucey
- Wed, May 03 2023
These days, 63 English Premier League appearances before your mid-twenties would almost guarantee a constant starting place in the Irish national side.
To not have possession of even a single senior cap, as was the case with Willie Boland, just shows the depth of midfield talent that Ireland had at its disposal during the 1990s.
“I was called up one time for a tournament in America, but it coincided with me not being fit at the time,” said Boland when extratime.com spoke with him recently.
“Even when I broke into the Coventry set-up as a youngster, playing in the Premier League, there was a load of really good midfielders back then. You had your Townsends, Houghtons, your John Sheridans and Roy Keane ... All really, really good players and I don’t think I made a good enough impact at Premier League level.
“It wasn’t a surprise that I didn’t get a call-up, but even so, back in the Premier League, I played 60-odd games. In fact, people take the piss out of me sometimes by saying that I played the most Premier League games without getting an Irish cap (laughs).
Overall, did I do enough to play international football? Probably not. Could I have got a call-up like other people? Possibly. Probably just bad timing really.”
Joining Cardiff City in 1999, Willie took a while to find his feet and his second season in the Welsh capital got curtailed by a broken leg.
Despite these initial setbacks, a club Player of the Year award and consistent high performances in a three-man midfield alongside Mark Bonner and fellow Irishman Graham Kavanagh, eventually led to over 200 appearances.
“When I first played for Cardiff, I was playing League One, League Two. The first year I was adapting to a new level, things didn’t go quite so well and the team wasn’t doing too well. I started the following season quite good and then broke my leg.
"You would start to feeling sorry for yourself at that stage, but I’ve always had a bit of steely determination about myself. I had to motivate myself, get back fit and try to make an impact on the team. Once I got back in, some good players came in, through some investment made by the club ... To me, that was the turnaround.”
A move to Hartlepool United in 2006 witnessed Boland and the north-east club finish as League Two runners up, securing automatic promotion during his maiden season.
A long-term injury resulted in a retirement announcement in 2009 before becoming a youth coach at Middlesbrough. There followed an opportunity with Limerick FC, with a brief playing return consisting of a solitary substitute appearance on home soil.
“I didn’t continue playing for Limerick because of my daughter’s health. She got diagnosed with leukaemia, so I pulled out of that situation and went back to England to take care of her for a couple of years, as she was recovering.
"The decision to go back to Limerick – I spoke with Pat O’Sullivan and Kieran Judge (owner and operations manager, respectively). They asked would I be interested. I was never quite over the knee injury I got while at Hartlepool. Even though I only played one game, coming on as a sub, I picked up injuries because my body wasn’t ready for the rigours of getting back into football.
"It was great going back to Limerick, my home city, to try make an impact and help out, but it didn’t work out due to my daughter’s illness.”
While Limerick’s Academy Director, Willie took over as the senior team’s interim manager for around a month in 2017 after Martin Russell departed and before Neil McDonald’s appointment as permanent boss.
“In my own mind, I was always going to go back to my old job. I had a good relationship with Martin and never really had aspirations at that stage to be first team manager. I literally just finished my A Licence at the time.
"You need a Pro Licence or beyond anyway to manage at that level, so that was never going to be a runner. I just stepped in when the club asked me to help out for six or seven games and did okay.
"They were a good bunch of players and it was always on the cards for somebody else to come in. The club toyed with the idea of giving me the job, but under the FAI rules it wasn’t possible. It was agreed that it was probably best that the club look elsewhere. Neil came in with great experience and a track record.
"He was great to have at the club and it worked out when Limerick survived in the Premier League that year and I went back to my role at the academy.”
Boland currently has his hands full as Director of Coaching at UCD and Mount Merrion.
“I’m involved with the Mount Merrion youth for the last three and a half years and that encompasses the UCD League of Ireland U-14 and U-15 teams. During that time UCD asked me to take over as Head of Youth.
"It’s a dual role and I look after Mount Merrion boys and girls teams in the DDSL and all the underage League of Ireland teams as well. I’m pretty busy, with a lot of players and teams to look after.”
