ANYONE WHO WATCHED Match of the Day 2 on Sunday night will have seen a short montage of Jack Grealish.
Or, to be more accurate, a short montage of Jack Grealish being kicked off the park.
The young winger came off the bench for the final 15 minutes of Aston Villa’s win over Hull and was given a rude welcome. In the space of five minutes, three different Hull players clobbered him and picked up bookings their trouble.
Still, Grealish did enough in that cameo to show the prodigious talent that has Villa so excited — and that has Ireland and England battling to secure his international allegiance.
Martin O’Neill had hoped that Grealish would join his squad in Dublin this week ahead of tomorrow’s friendly against Oman and the Euro 2016 opener against Georgia.
But the 18-year-old, born in Birmingham to a Dublin father, is wary of rushing any decision.
He informed O’Neill that he is not ready to commit to either country at present and instead he will join Noel King’s U21 squad for their game against Germany.
One man who has gotten a close look at Grealish’s skills is goalkeeper Shay Given, who returned to Ireland training yesterday more than two years after he announced his international retirement.
Has he tried to convince Grealish to declare for Ireland? ”Every day!”
“He’s a big talent,” Given said. “He came on [on Sunday] against Hull and he was fantastic. We all hope he comes and plays for Ireland.
“I think he’s meeting up with the U21s this week. I think the key is not to put too much pressure on him. I think himself and his dad are going to be making that decision over the next couple of months.
Ideally we’d like him straight away because I feel he’s good enough to play straight away because he’s a real talented player. Hopefully we can keep him in the green jersey.
After the senior squad’s first training session in Malahide, two of Hull’s Irish contingent found themselves facing questions about their handling of Grealish on Sunday.
“I didn’t touch him personally!” Robbie Brady protested. “Quinny [Stephen Quinn] wouldn’t have done us any favours.”
Securing a player of Grealish’s talent can only be a positive, Brady added.
I’ve seen him play a few times and he looks a real good player. The decision’s up to him at the end of the day but obviously we’d be glad to have him.
“He’s a good talent and I can only see him getting better. Touch wood he does make the right decision, so to speak.”
David Meyler didn’t play in Sunday’s defeat but he did see Match of the Day 2.
“Yeah, I seen him get kicked a few times,” the midfielder said. “Look, he was just unfortunate.
“We obviously didn’t play very well in the first half. We came out and the manager wanted us to get stuck into them and get into their faces. I think young Jack dwelled on the ball two or three times and a couple of our lads had a swing at him.
“He’s another bright talent and he’s Irish as well so he’s one to watch for the future.”
