Player a manager likes to have around

THE LAST time a Republic of Ireland manager decided to omit Kevin Kilbane from the starting line-up for a competitive game, the team conceded a late equaliser that ended the team’s hopes of automatic qualification for a major championship finals and consigned Ireland instead to the play-offs. So, not all that much has changed in the last 10 years, then.

After the slip-up in Macedonia where Mark Kennedy was preferred to both Kilbane and Damien Duff on the left wing, Mick McCarthy brought the Preston-born midfielder back for the first of the play-off games against Turkey. It was the beginning of a quite remarkable sequence and when he lines out against Montenegro this evening, it will be his 58th consecutive competitive appearance for his country. Indeed, if he starts the games next month the run will have extended over five complete campaigns and an entire decade during which he has had sustained spells on the left wing, in central midfield and at left back with fleeting appearances made up front and in central defence.

He can be, at times, Ireland’s most frustrating player but for the honesty of his effort, his energy and his unending devotion to the cause he must surely be one of the country’s most loved.

In an era when badge kissing sometimes seems to be regarded by players as evidence of genuine loyalty, evidence of Kilbane’s commitment tends to be a little more substantial, not least when he went to America with Steve Stanton’s rather youthful Ireland squad two years ago as just about every other senior player preferred to go on holidays.

It is no wonder, then, that while he may not be the most technically gifted or physically powerful in a team he is almost invariably the sort of player that most managers like to have about the place.

Giovanni Trapattoni took time to sing his praises yesterday, expressing his appreciation for the fact that, as he spent the last two years attempting to reshape this Irish team and restore its fortunes, he knew Kilbane was one of four or five core players he could build around.

Hull City boss Phil Brown, meanwhile, makes no secret of the fact his own decision to bring the now 32-year-old back to the north east of England last season was made in the wake of careful checks amongst those who had managed him before. “I did my homework before Killer came to Hull by speaking to managers that he played for, none more so than Peter Reid and David Moyes,” says Brown. “They’re no mugs, no slouches where players are concerned, but everyone said he is brilliant to have in the changing room and brilliant to have around the place. Whatever you say, he will not only carry it out on the field but he will voice his opinion in the changing room which is not to say he agrees with you all the time.

“Kevin is a very down-to-earth, under-stated, get-on-with-his-job type of person. But he has an opinion, based on his experiences, and he brings that to the table.

“He has played a pivotal role for me,” continued the Hull boss, “taking on board everything that we have been trying to do, taking on board that we need to get back to the basics of being hard to play against but also the organisational side as well. It’s a great achievement to reach 100 caps but he won’t want to make a song and dance about it,” concludes Brown. “That’s typical Kevin.”