BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Szmodics sets Ireland goals
with many more caps for Ireland.”
Age certainly didn’t matter to John Aldridge, who was 27 when he made his first appearance in Jack Charlton’s first match in charge — a March 1986 friendly against Wales.
And while it took him a while to get going on the goalscoring front, by his 69th and final cap he had found the net 19 times.
Wes Hoolahan was another late starter. While his first cap came in a friendly against Colombia in 2008, he had to wait until he turned 30 before his next appearance.
Giovanni Trapattoni finally relented to the endless calls for his inclusion and brought him on as a sub against Greece in November 2012.
Hoolahan’s best days came under Martin O’Neill, where he played a starring role at Euro 2016, scoring against Sweden and teeing up Robbie Brady’s winner against Italy.
Jonathan Walters had been capped at Under-21 level, but didn’t win his first senior cap until November 2010 against Norway, when he was 27.
He ended his international career with 14 goals in 57 appearances.
Keith Andrews was 28 by his senior breakthrough, while Matt Doherty and Conor Hourihane were both 26.
Players
There were a host of players who had reached the quarter century, including Mark Kinsella, Darren Randolph, Andy Townsend and Stephen Ward.
So Szmodics, while frustrated at the delay, can look forward to many more years in the green jersey — fitness and form permitting.
“The first call-up was a couple of
“It was never really a decision, it all came out of nowhere really, he said I used that as a ploy to get in this squad which is not what happened at all.
“I’m fully focused on Ireland and background noise…people can write things on Twitter and say things on Twitter but until you hear it from myself, you know that’s all nonsense.”
Having left Dublin to years ago. With the form and amount of games I’ve played and seeing others make their debut has made me hungry,” he added.
“I am excited to hopefully get it on the weekend.”
With the competition for places in the forwards as strong as it has been in a long time, he hopes his goal heroics this season can give him an edge when it comes to selecting a starting 11 this weekend.
“Obviously that’s up to John (O’Shea) and the staff,” he said. “I’ve done all I can at club level.
“There are some great names, some lads scoring goals, and like I’ve always said I feel like I can come in and do a job and help Ireland.
“There are good names here and it’s good to have competition so no-one is comfortable, everyone is always setting their standards high and we’re competing basically for them three front spots.
“Hopefully I’ve done enough and proven in training that if I don’t get a start I get a good chunk of minutes.”
One of the reasons for Szmodics’ late arrival on the international stage was the fact that he wasn’t sure if he qualified.
Tough
“My nan was county Longford,” he explained.
“I didn’t know much about it and I didn’t meet my nan.
“It’s tough coming through, if no-one has told you about the link, I knew she was Irish but I didn’t know how far down the line it is or how it works.
“It was only when I signed with new agents that we looked down that route, contacted them, it took a while, two or three years to sort out the passport, the birth and death certificates.
“That’s all in the past now, it’s all sorted, I have my Irish passport, leaving camps, not being called up to camps, I am fully focused now on this camp and beyond.”
He may be versatile, but Szmodics ideally sees himself as a number 10.
“My form speaks for itself at the minute. I can play up front, I can play in the 10, I can play in the wide areas. For me, it is good to be able to play in a number of positions.
“My favourite position? It would be the 10, the attacking midfield role because I like going forward but I don’t mind sticking my foot in as well, doing the defensive side of things as well.”