Robbie Brady should be nailed on for Ireland start this month
In March 2021, Robbie Brady played what until recently, many believed to be his last international in a dour 1–1 draw with Oman in Debrecen, Hungary.
That impending summer would see the end of Brady’s four and a half year stint with Burnley where although he showed glimpses of brilliance, struggled for consistency and failed to hit 20 appearances in any of his seasons with the Clarets (Although he did play 37 games in the 2016/17 season if his Norwich appearances are counted).
Brady made an instant impact after his move to Sean Dyche’s side in January 2017, still riding on the crest of his Euro 2016 wave. Sadly, his 2017/18 campaign was ended in December after a collision with Harry Maguire saw him suffer a patellar tendon tear which not only shattered his knee, but also his career at the prime age of 25.
The complex and sometimes career ending injury kept him out for 329 days, missing 41 of Burnley’s games. It also put the the Baldoyle native completely out of the Ireland picture.
Although he never hit incredibly dizzy heights, Brady is perhaps one of the few Ireland players over the last decade to look evidently ‘elite’. His movement and technique is something not many Ireland players possess and although he was still missing that little something to make it to the very top, he had something special that showed why Sir Alex Ferguson was keen to keep him at Manchester United as a youngster despite having mixed feeling about the Dubliner.
Brady turned down the bright lights of Old Trafford for a Championship move to Hull in 2013 and 9 years later, in similar fashion but not in the same magnitude, turned down Premier League football with Scott Parker’s Bournemouth for regular first team football with Preston in England’s second tier. On both occasions, Brady choose minutes over what would have been a bit-part role and it’s minutes he needs to make up for lost time.
His gamble has paid off and Brady has started every league game (playing all bar 30 minutes) for Preston this season under Ryan Lowe at left-wing-back, the position Ferguson felt best suited him as a United youngster.
Preston are unbeaten and Brady is their star man, his swirling assist for Brad Pott’s wonder volley against Luton last month shows what a quality creative outlet he still is.
Evidently he simply needed a stable pre-season with a club to get his career back on track after he suffered what would end the careers of many players, something he was starved of for year.
The next step for Brady has to be a comeback into an Ireland squad that can always do with more technically gifted created players. Stephen Kenny has often name checked Brady during his spells out injured as a player he wants in his squad and despite using him in a central midfield role at the start of his regime, may feel that the 30 year-old would fit in seamlessly to his system at his new favoured position of left-wing-back.
Brady’s has put in the hard yards and taken the risks to resurrect his career and his talents should not be passed up by Stephen Kenny. He should slot straight into the starting team at left-wing-back to supplement quality and experience to a very young, talented Ireland team that has at times screamed out for both during Kenny’s regime. Undoubtably, he has unfinished business with his country and can really offer so much.
Nick, The Green Machíne Podcast
