Healy: McClean can get out of the Trap

Cork City midfielder Colin Healy says that Giovanni Trapattoni faces a difficult choice over whether to include James McClean when he finally has to pick his 23-man squad for Euro 2012.

Healy was put on standby by Mick McCarthy in 2002 after Roy Keane left Saipan but the ex-Sunderland and Celtic man appreciates Trap’s decision, so far, to stick with his tried and tested and deny former Derry City star McClean a place in his squad for the friendly with Czech Republic later this month.

“I can see where he (Trapattoni) is coming from,” Healy said. “It’s a hard one really. I was in that boat and I got a shout to go on standby but I could understand that I only played 20 games with Coventry that year and played three games with the Irish team.

“I did well and people said I should be involved but there were other lads there who’d played 30 or 40 games and were in the team the whole campaign, so I can see where the manager is coming from anyway.

“Obviously James has done really well. He’s done himself no harm anyway and if it’s not this time, then it’ll be the next. He’s still got plenty of years ahead of him and you never know, there might be some injuries. If he’s there (in the Irish squad) great but if not he will have plenty of more chances ahead of him.”

Healy, now back in the Airtricity League with his hometown club, also thinks that McClean has set yet another example of how the league can be a stepping-stone to bigger things cross-channel.

“He was playing League of Ireland last year and he’s now the main man for Sunderland. I think that says a lot for the league.  I’ve seen a few games on the television and he has done very well. He’s been given a chance and he has taken it and people are talking, which is all down to him.”

With Graham Cummins making the switch from Cork to Preston North End last month, Healy also says that players can always come home from a failed spell cross-channel and impress here to earn a path back to England, similar to his teammate at Ipswich Shane O’Connor, who is also back on Leeside after six years in England with Liverpool and the Tractor Boys.

At the unveiling is Cork City FC manager Tommy Dunne, centre, with players Dan Murray, left, and Colin Healy. Clarion Hotel, Lapps Quay, Cork. Picture credit: Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE

“There are players going over every year and if it’s not happening for them they can come back and do well here and earn another chance to go over. At Cork there seems to be a player every year going over so there are certainly people watching the league.

“I know Shane from Ipswich and he’s a good player. It was a bit unfortunate what happened to him over there but he’s back here now and he has a chance of showing what he’s capable of and it’s down to him now to see if he can earn a move back over.
 

“If it’s not happening over there, I can’t see why you wouldn’t come back. If you’re good enough then you will earn a chance to go over.”
 

With just over two weeks to go until the start of the new season, Healy, currently carrying a slight knee injury, is confident City can do well but isn’t willing to make any predictions and instead wants to simply take it game by game.
 

“The Premier is going to be a lot tougher than the first but we’ve got some good players here and we’re just going to try and win as many games as possible and see where that takes us.
 

“I just think we need to go out and take every game as it comes and see what we can do. We’re never going to turn around and say that we’re going to win the league. There are a lot of good teams in the league but we’ll take each game as it comes and see what happens.”
 

This is, of course, Healy’s second spell at Turner’s Cross after he was forced to leave with the club under financial pressure in 2009. But he is glad to be home and he says his teammates deserve huge credit for getting the club back to the Premier Division within two years.
 

“I know a lot of the lads here and they’ve done very well to get where they are as a club. I was there when the club was going through hardship and I was the lucky one that got out of it. The lads have done fantastic to get where they are now. Back in the Premier Division with new owners and new sponsors, it’s all on the up.”