Macken to get his chance

With Ireland's first World Cup qualifier just over two weeks away, Jonathan Macken might well view tomorrow night's game against Bulgaria in Lansdowne Road as both a first and final audition for a starring role in Ireland's bid for a place at Germany 2006.

Robbie Keane, Brian Kerr said yesterday, is making good progress at Tottenham where he is recovering from the ankle ligament damage he sustained in a pre-season friendly against Rangers, but the team's only prolific scorer is still a doubt for the Cyprus and Switzerland games with the result that Manchester-born Macken suddenly finds himself presented with a rather timely chance to prove himself one of the best of the rest.

The 26-year-old (he will turn 27 on the eve of the Swiss game) made a quietly positive impression on his first public appearance as a member of the Republic of Ireland's squad yesterday.

As a beneficiary of FIFA's decision to allow players to switch international allegiance in certain circumstances his position is a little awkward. It's one thing, after all, to weigh up your options before opting to play for one country over another, but something rather different to choose one and then, when your opportunities there dry up, to change horses.

Macken, whose paternal grandparents came from Cavan, referred on more than one occasion yesterday to his solitary appearance as an England youth international at the under-20 World Cup seven years ago as though it had been something quite outside of his control.

"It came out of the blue," he recalled, "there was a phone call and the next thing I knew I was playing for England in Malaysia."

He could, as many players with ambitions of playing for England have when approached by Ireland managers down the years, simply have said no. But then that is to ignore the pressure that club officials exerted, for one reason or another, on young, impressionable and highly vulnerable players at key moments in their careers to opt for England in such situations.

Mick McCarthy believed that Macken had been thrown on for 28 minutes against the UAE at that tournament for no other reason than to sort out the issue of his future international affiliation. It was certainly to prove a costly debut for a player who spoke yesterday of how aware he had been of his Irish background despite his grandparents, John and Susan Macken, having moved to Manchester half a century ago.

Had he been free to declare when Brian Kerr first became aware of his eligibility it seems fair to assume that the striker, who started his career in the youth team set-up at Manchester United before moving on to Preston where he did sufficiently well (74 goals in some 229 appearances) to catch the eye of Kevin Keegan, who paid £5 million for him a couple of years back, would have quite a few senior caps in his collection by now.

Injury and the arrivals of Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler have since limited his opportunities at Manchester City but his strength, powerful running, link play and eye for goal have all contributed to Kerr's decision to call him in despite the coach repeatedly observing last season that any new arrivals would have to be better than what he already had.

With Keane potentially sidelined, Damien Duff apparently not entirely over his own injury difficulties of last season and the other strikers available to the Ireland manager having yet to prove, for all their promise, that they have what it takes to really make a mark at this level, Macken looks set to get his chance.

Like a couple of those he will be competing with for a place in Kerr's team he is well proven at First Division level but much less so in the English top flight. Given that, it seems a lot to ask that he will take to the international game so swiftly but he looks set to get his chance and it would be a significant bonus for all concerned if he takes it.