A Wanderer finding his feet in Ireland's problem position

THERE’S A bit of the old gag about becoming an overnight success requiring years of preparation in Stephen Ward’s rapid progress through the Irish senior ranks during the past few months.

Having stayed at home while countless team-mates and friends got their chance to make it in England, he was into his 20s before Wolves decided they liked what they saw during a one-week trial. Even then, not everyone back at Bohemians was entirely convinced Mick McCarthy’s side was getting one of the team’s most talented players.

At Molineux, though, the versatile Dubliner has patiently applied himself and willingly filled just about every role imaginable at one stage or another. By chance, he got a run out at left back at couple of years ago and now he is a regular there for a team whose form remains endearingly erratic.

Given how much of a problem the position was for Giovanni Trapattoni, there were those who wondered aloud what Ward might have done to deter the Italian from handing him his chance at international level too. Almost four and a half years after McCarthy decided he had what it took to play at a high level in England, the current Ireland boss had virtually no option but to see whether he could make another step up.

Six months on and the 26-year-old is looking like finishing the year with more minutes on the pitch for his country during 2011 than defensive stalwarts John O’Shea, Seán St Ledger or Richard Dunne.

Along the way, he has bagged his first goal in a green shirt and been an important player on a couple of memorable nights for the team. They could all seem pretty forgettable by Tuesday, though, if things go to plan.

Ward admits to being just a little perplexed by it all but he never comes across as being in anyway fazed. He certainly looks as relaxed as ever as he contemplates the likelihood that, in the absence of Kevin Kilbane, he will earn his seventh and eighth caps between now and Tuesday.

“I’ve enjoyed it,” he says with slightly bemused understatement. “I’ve probably racked up more caps than I would have expected in such a short period of time but I think that with every game I’m learning and enjoying it more.

“Playing in the Premier League each week against world-class wingers is definitely helping my game and Moscow was one of the biggest games I’ve ever played. To go there, be bombarded for 90 minutes but to take a result was fantastic.

“It was,” he admits, “a tough game,” and one for which he earned less than rave reviews from some quarters as he struggled to cope with the pace and movement of the hosts, not least Andrei Arshavin. “You learn from every game you play, though,” he says, “even the so-called lesser sides; you try to pick up something every game you play in. That was a great learning experience and I just want to be involved in more games like that.”

Long content to slot in wherever required, Ward has acted to capitalise on his swift emergence as heir apparent to Kilbane for the left-back role. During the summer he sat down with McCarthy and told him that gaining regular first-team experience in the role at club level was a priority. He doesn’t sound like he exactly laid down the law to the former Republic of Ireland boss and McCarthy didn’t give any guarantees he wouldn’t avail of his versatility from time to time. Yet he’s played all but one Premier League game there this season and feels he is improving with each week.

“I think he’s definitely taken that into account,” he says. “Most other pre-seasons I’ve probably played five or six other positions to get minutes under belt but this time I predominantly played left back and it’s been the same since which has definitely helped me.”

Still, there are different challenges to cope with at international level and a different manager’s priorities to pursue. Trapattoni, he says, generally takes a slightly more cautious view of how the full backs should play, a natural outlook, Ward suggests given the stakes.

“I think he prefers his full backs to support from behind rather than sometimes at my club I’m able to overlap or get in behind. It’s a bit more about keeping the shape and making sure you’re as tight as possible because international football is a lot different to club football, I think.

“The group’s a lot smaller, a lot tighter, there’s a lot more at stake in these games. If you have a bad result in one of these games it can put you out of the group whereas in the league if you have a bad result you can resurrect it the next week and get back.”

That seems more true than ever as the Irish head into their last two games of the group. There is, he admits, very little room for error remaining if the team wants to be in Poland or Ukraine next summer but he is confident they can build on their remarkable recent run of seven games without conceding which would certainly provide a firm foundation for qualification.

He, of course, made his debut in the game when the run started, the 5-0 win over Northern Ireland back in May, and he has yet to witness an Irish goalkeeper pick the ball out of the net at close quarter. The manager insists that’s another success story that has spent a long time under wraps at the development stage. Ward, understandably, isn’t arguing. The Dubliner is just content the years of waiting are over and he has a leading role.