Is Luca set to bloom... all for his Irish gran?
...and with a joker in his pack called Luca, boss could have last laugh if he plays the ace
LUCA CONNELL says he won’t risk his Irish granny’s wrath by switching allegiance from the Republic of Ireland to England.
‘She wouldn’t be speaking to me if I did that,’ quipped Connell, who has every intention of seizing his ‘oncein-a-lifetime’ chance under Mick McCarthy. ‘My target is to get in the senior team, I want to crack on and hopefully I can make my debut,’ said the Liverpool-born midfielder.
‘I’m grateful to be called up and I’ve got to take any opportunity that I can. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime.
‘If you turn that down, not just the gaffer but the team wouldn’t be happy with you.’
Everton fan Connell added he was left ‘star-struck’ after he was paired up with Séamus Coleman in training with the Irish team in Portugal.
‘When I saw Séamus, I was star-struck for a few seconds’
IT was like a scene from It’s A Knockout as the net and supports came crashing down on the verdant Quinta Do Lago turf.
Man-mountain Shane Duffy was the culprit as he brought the game of head tennis to an abrupt end. As the gentle giant collapsed in a heap, the sound of laughter from the Irish players rang around the cork trees and acacias. These days, fun has replaced fear.
This was the way it used to be when Ireland first trained under Mick McCarthy 25 years ago.
Once again, the press corps watched from the sideline for as long as they wanted, and there were no restrictions on chatting to players and staff as they passed by. At one point, hydration drinks were even passed around to the scribblers.
Already on his return, McCarthy has created a mood that reflects inclusivity and comes with a typically light touch.
There will be serious days ahead but all work and no play is a template for training tedium.
While a contented crew won’t necessarily score more goals or win more games, they are more likely to run through a brick wall for their manager than not.
In the middle of it all, lapping it up, was a mop-haired lad from Liverpool, Luca Connell.
A month past his 18th birthday, this was Connell’s first training session with the big boys, and he was loving it.
For the various drills, Connell was slotted into the same team as Séamus Coleman, the Irish captain, which was almost certainly deliberate by McCarthy. Did he sink or swim alongside his Everton hero? He swam.
The kid from Knotty Ash — home of Ken Dodd and his Diddymen — is the joker in the pack this week. No one saw his selection coming, and he admitted yesterday that the past couple of days have been ‘crazy’.
He had to cancel a planned holiday to Dubai with his girlfriend in case he does enough this week to stay with the squad for the games against Denmark and Gibraltar.
‘It’s a lot of money but this is an experience that money can’t buy,’ he said.
Connell’s call-up evokes shades of Jason McAteer in the spring of ’94 by Jack Charlton.
Connell is also a Scouser with a quick turn of phrase, and his club attachment is Bolton Wanderers — if not for very much longer.
Out of contract shortly, the defensive midfielder caught the eye in his 12 first-team appearances this season, five of which were made in April as Bolton nosedived out of the Championship. Connell skirted the issue yesterday but he knows bigger clubs are on his case — including the likes of Spurs, Wolves, Southampton, Crystal Palace and Brighton. So, too, are Rangers, whose manager Steven Gerrard is staying at the Conrad Hotel, a drive and five-iron from where the Irish team are training in this golf haven on the Algarve.
Connell was aware of Gerrard’s whereabouts and made no secret of his respect for the former Liverpool midfielder. ‘I know it’s going to sound bad being an Everton fan but Steven Gerrard, you can’t fault him, can you? He’s probably the only one [Liverpool FC legend] I do admire because of what he’s done for English football,’ admitted Connell.
Gerrard has Irish connections, as so many do on Merseyside, and Connell told a lovely story about his Irish grandparents, Peter and Margaret Simpson, through whom he qualifies for Ireland.
‘My mum’s mum and dad are both from Dublin. They met, funny enough, when both were on holiday in Blackpool with their friends. My grandad went on holidays with his mates and my nan was on holiday with her mates. So, they met there, and the rest is history, really. There’s plenty of Irish in Liverpool, it’s like part of Ireland, isn’t it?’
Asked if his granny would ever
forgive him if he jumped ship to England, Connell quipped: ‘No, she wouldn’t be speaking to me.’
Behind the wit, there is a serious side to Connell committing to Ireland, for the English Football Association is aware of him, just as it was of Declan Rice. And Connell knows this. ‘Yeah, I did see a few of the reports and got told about them but it could mean anything, couldn’t it? There was no direct contact,’ he said.
After the Declan Rice saga, McCarthy will be desperate to avoid a repeat.
It helps that Connell, 18, has been made to feel part of things, especially by captain Coleman. ‘Last night, when I saw Séamus, I was star-struck for a few seconds. Then it was just like he was my friend. He’s a lovely fella. I’m grateful for how he’s welcomed me in,’ beamed the youngster.
Like Rice, Connell has played for Ireland at underage level, from the U16s to the U19s, including the Euro U17 finals last year, where Ireland lost on penalties and keeper Jimmy Corcoran was unfairly sent off in the shoot-out.
‘Going out was bad enough but to go out in that way was just a nightmare,’ recalled Connell.
Connell is now eligible for the U21s for the next three years, but what if McCarthy likes the cut of his jib, keeps him involved and asks him to warm-up against Gibraltar on June 10? A minute would be enough to tie Connell to Ireland for the rest of his career. What then?
‘If the gaffer wants to give me a chance, I’m more than willing to take that,’ declared Connell. ‘I’ve to take any opportunity I can. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime. If you turn that down, not just the gaffer but the team wouldn’t be happy.’
Disrupting a happy camp is the last thing McCarthy wants.
It’s early days yet but Luca could be set to bloom.