On a day which saw 100 thousand Irish men women and children fill Dublins Pheonix Park today, our proud Boys were led back to Dublin by a Manager who's work is never done. According to a Radio piece today Mick is doing all that he can to persuade Jason McAteer to think again about his future in International Soccer. Jason stated that he was considering retiring last week due to a persistent knee injury, and mabye choosing to concentrate on his Domestic career at Sunderland. Although we have ample cover in midfield, with Stephen Reid and Colin Healy coming of Senior International age, McAteer 31 this year is still a very important member of our squad.
With only three goals in his nine year international career with the Republic of Ireland, Jason scored the all important goal against the Dutch which eventually denied Holland their World Cup place. He was also take down in the box by the Iranians, to win us a penalty, giving us a 2-0 home agg. lead to take to Tehran in the playoffs of the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.
Jason its not time, not even near your time to retire. Im sure Mick will influence the mans decision, as the Irish camp is a very difficult place to leave. Our Team Spirit is the envy of World footballing nations. Jason has 49 Caps under his belt to date.
Jeff Kenna, Alan Maybury, Owen Coyle, Phil Babb, Paul Butler and Keith O'Neill have all been out of favour for some time now. But theres always a chance to impress?
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