Tom Humphries witnesses manager Brian Kerr's unique ability to put oneof his former under-19 players, Alan Quinn, at his ease.

It happened one night. Cyprus. Six years ago. Three characters in search of the big time. Ireland are playing Germany. European Under- 18 final. Alan Quinn, who hasn't started the final comes on and scores in the 71st minute - 1-0. Germany equalise though. Penalties.

Robbie Keane, the coolest talent there is, the one you'd bet you're last dime on. He puts his penalty wide. Liam George a kid from Luton with Rasta locks ends up with the kick to win the thing. Bang. The world is unfurling at his feet.

Fast forward six years. George is out of football. Robbie Keane has been from Wolves to Coventry to Inter Milan to Leeds to Spurs. He's the star he was always going to become and this week as he mourns his father he is national news.

And Alan Quinn? He is surviving. He keeps on keeping on. He is sitting in the airport hotel beside the man who created those days. And the body language between the two of them says enough, mutual respect spills over to affection. Quinn is a Brian Kerr type of player. Kerr is a constant reference point in Quinn's career.

Quinn, diminutive, scrappy, passionate, one of the Tallaght wave , has been with Sheffield Wednesday since early that year when Ron Atkinson brought him to Hillsborough. He made his debut as a 90th-minute sub in the Premiership, breaking through within months of arriving in England.Quinn has been virtually a constant ever since, the one bright spot. Around that time Sheffield Wednesday invested £½ million in two other Irish kids whom they brought from Peterboro, Dave Billington and Mark McKeever. Quinn outlasted both and is now the mainstay of a struggling team which plays home to a new brood of Irish hopefuls, Derek Geary, Brian Barry-Murphy and Michael Reddy.

Consistently rumoured to be about to move on Quinn is generally happy with his lot.

"I have another year on my contract but I like Wednesday and I like playing every week."

Beside him Kerr watches attentively. Kerr reads press conferences the way Beckenbauer read games. A player in trouble and he'll nip in with a joke. A fact goes astray he'll tidy it up and backpass it neatly. Quinn is nervous. Normally affable, his answers are short, "Yes it's great to be here. I know Noel (O'Reilly) and Brian, big influence on my career. I wouldn't be over in England if it wasn't for Brian. He called me up when I was playing for Cherry Orchard."

Brian Kerr's face is momentarily clouded. "Manortown wasn't it?" he asks. "

Yeah Manortown," corrects Quinn "First Manortown and then Cherry Orchard."

Kerr has it now. "He got put off in the first match I went to see him in. A fella gave me a sore ear, they were beaten four nil and he was sent off and I was getting it, 'what do think of your man getting put off', and I said at least he had the bit of bloody heart, being beaten four nil was upsetting him enough he gave someone a kick."

"Who was that against Brian?" asks Quinn.

"St Francis. Leinster Youths Cup match."

Quinn turns his head in awe.

"Semi-final," Kerr adds, and now he's hamming it. "What's the ground? Salesians? Holy Fathers?"

"I don't know where it was," says Quinn.

"Aw, where Clover play. There's houses on it. On Whitehall Road. In the back." He gives up.

And Wednesday came in when? Quinn is trying to remember. Kerr has the game, the formation both teams played, the length of the grass and the where-are-they-now trivia on the 21 other players.

"Dublin were playing Wednesday and you weren't playing. A fella out of Sheffield Wednesday said to me there's a lot of good players here and I said the best fella isn't playing here. (Worried look crosses Kerr's face again. Something has just dawned on him) Hang on, weren't you with someone else as well, Lourdes?"

"Yeah it was Lourdes, Manortown and then Cherry Orchard."

"But you did something at the start of the season?"

Quinn comes out with his hands up.

"I did. I signed for Cherry Orchard for a few games at the start?"

"That match was in Home Farm," continues Kerr. "We'd been in Richmond. It was a sunny Sunday. We went over on the way home. We'd been training."

Quinn grins. When your first senior international involvement is with a manager who not only knows your name but knows more about you than you know yourself everything takes on a reassuring air.

The press conference sticks with the old times. Cyprus and that magic summer. Kerr recalling what days of the week all the Irish games were played on, how many minutes Quinn played and best of all . . . "He was involved in the move three times before he scored the goal. Robbie set up the goal."

He grins paternally at Alan Quinn. Quinn smiles again. His first big time press conference has flown by. The nerves are gone. This weekend he could have been playing for Wednesday against Watford. They'll struggle without him but they struggle anyway. If he dithered over the choices he's over it now. Sometimes when you want to move forward you get your strength by going back to the source.