Gaffers by Trevor Keane

from the game. Mick came in and immediately set about getting some confidence into the guys. He was a smashing fella, and he got us to understand our roles and brought some organisation and camaraderie to the team.
    ‘We played a Scotland team filled with players such as Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Colin Stein and got a 1–1 draw, which was a great result. It is a simple thing, but Mick picked the players who could play and were in form. Mick knew when to have fun with the players and helped instil a confidence in them.’
    Jimmy Holmes was one of the youngsters that Meagan blooded during his time in charge: ‘At the time I made my debut I was actually playing in the reserves for Coventry. Noel Cantwell was in charge of the club. Mick came over and had a look at me in a game against Wrexham, and I must have impressed because I was called into the squad and made my debut against Austria. I came on as a right-back. I was a left-back, though, so when I got on I went over to the left-back Tony Dunne, who was a hero of mine, and said to him, “The manager wants you to go to right-back.” I apologised to him afterwards. We were 3–1 down when I came on with twenty-five minutes to go and ended up losing 4–1.
    ‘When I first arrived, I went to the hotel to meet the team. We were staying in the Montrose. I got there before the others, and I asked the girl at reception if any of the players were in. She saw my bag, but assumed I was a fan, because she then asked me if I wanted an autograph. She obviously didn’t know who I was.
    ‘It turned out I was rooming with Don Givens. I was then introduced to the likes of Terry Conroy, Steve Heighway and Paddy Mulligan, all heroes to me. They were taking the mickey out of me, but it was all in good fun. When I went up to my room that night I got a call from a reporter at the Irish Press . He was asking me about all the players and how I was getting on with them all. Well, I told him that they were all brilliant, and I was looking forward to the game. The next morning at breakfast the lads were quoting all the nice things I had said. It turned out that the reporter was Ray Treacy.
    ‘That introduction helped me to relax and feel part of the squad, though. Mick was a good talker. He was intelligent and knew the game, although there was very little time to coach the players. You came over on the Saturday and then played on the Sunday. Mick had to make decisions based on the opinions of the players’ club managers and more experienced players within the team. It was an exciting time, though, with Mick being the first real manager of the team. It was good to be part of it, and I learned quite quickly.’
    Despite the positive impact Mick was having on the team and the new professionalism of Irish football, results were still not in line with the public’s expectations, as Ireland failed to win any of their qualifiers for the 1970 World Cup. A draw with Denmark at home was the only point earned by the team in that campaign. A 3–0 away defeat at the hands of Czechoslovakia was followed by a 4–0 hammering away to a Puskás-led Hungary, the great man himself scoring the killer third goal. The campaign saw Ireland score only three goals, yet they conceded fourteen. These were dark times indeed for the new man in charge and for Irish football in general.
    Things failed to improve during the qualifying campaign for the 1972 European Championship, with the team only securing a single point from a possible twelve available, a 1–1 draw with Sweden in the first group match at Dalymount Park, although they lost the return match 1–0 in Stockholm. Two defeats to Italy followed, including a determined and narrow loss in Dublin in which a Jimmy Conroy goal saw Ireland equalise only to concede a killer second goal midway through the second half. Following this things went downhill, with Ireland suffering two very heavy defeats at the hands of Austria. In Dublin the team could only muster a