It says everything about the trajectory Wes Hoolahan’s career has taken that, at 34, he was named Norwich’s player of the season back in May.
Let’s not forget that this is a man who has won 39 of his 40 caps for the Republic of Ireland in his 30s. Late bloomer or eternally underrated?
Probably both, but there’s no question Hoolahan’s international exploits have been at their most fruitful in the autumn of his career. The Dubliner was presented with his award ahead of the Canaries’ last game of the 2016/17 campaign, going on to score two goals in a 4-0 rout of QPR at Carrow Road.
He scored seven times in 33 Championship appearances, and spent the season doing in a yellow shirt what we’ve so often seen him do in green: stitching play together with intelligence and touch, cracking games open with clever passing, with vision and subtlety.
He also spent his fair share of time sitting on the bench.
The great Wes debate isn’t confined to the national team. Alex Neil, then at the helm at Norwich but since departed to Preston, took a lot of flak from fans for overlooking the Irishman at various stages of the season.
He left him out as Norwich fell to a seventh loss in nine games against Huddersfield last December.
Hoolahan had been forced to watch on for the entire 90 minutes as his team lost to QPR a few weeks prior to that and even stretching back to the previous year, when Norwich suffered relegation from the Premier League, there was a feeling that the Irishman was being hard done by.
His four goals and eight assists in a side who were fatally blunt in attack was good going for a midfielder in the top tier, yet Neil more often than not left Hoolahan on the bench, seemingly not trusting the diminutive playmaker enough to task him with making the side tick.
Why that is remains open to debate. Players like Hoolahan take risks, and when they’re not completely on their game those risks can cost you. He’s an easy player to love. He’s 35 now but doesn’t look it – in Martin O’Neill’s words, "he has a young face, he'd pass for 18 or 19 or 20" – and keeps himself in excellent condition.
For Ireland fans, he’s refreshing because we don’t have any other footballers like him in the squad. We have many physical, committed hard-running pros who will always put in an honest shift, but when you’ve been subjected to an hour of watching your full-backs loft hopeful punts towards the final third under little pressure, seeing a little guy playing with his head up and simply finding a team-mate consistently with passes to feet can feel like an epiphany.
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It also usually leads to forlorn cries of, ‘why isn’t he starting?!’ Managers will argue that sometimes a game isn’t right for the type of player he is (see Giovanni Trapattoni opting to bring on target man Conor Sammon in Austria back in 2013 when Ireland, trailing 1-0, needed to win to save their World Cup hopes; it didn’t happen, and Trap got the chop).
Long-ball soccer is risk-averse; it’s also, occasionally, a way to level the playing field. Even top defenders can hate dealing with searching balls into their own area against uncompromising big men. That’s a tactic that’s served other Ireland teams very well down the years.
The counter-argument to all that is that Hoolahan possesses enough quality to win games even when he’s not playing well (see the victory in Vienna last October, when even Eamon Dunphy admitted the former Shels man had been poor before his gorgeous through ball to James McClean resulted in the winner).
Hoolahan’s elevation to Ireland saviour was an overnight success 12 years in the making. At Shelbourne he was a revelation, breaking on to the scene in 2001, winning three leagues and a sea of admirers for his nonchalance and creativity.
A move across the water was inevitable. He went to Paul Lambert at Livingston, then moved on permanently to Blackpool in 2007 after a year-long loan stint, before settling at Carrow Road 12 months later. In April 2008 Trap finally called him into the Ireland set-up and gave him a first cap off the bench in a friendly win against Colombia, but he’d have to wait until the November of 2012 before getting the call again, for another friendly, this time with Greece.
* 22 competitive matches under O'Neill - Hoolahan featured in 17
In February 2013, he scored his first senior goal for his country in a 2-0 defeat of Poland. It was Hoolahan’s third international cap. He was 30 years old. So the fairytale has come late. And now we’re heading for the final chapter.
It’s almost a certainty this will be his final qualification campaign with Ireland. Hoolahan may look almost as fresh now as he was 15 years ago as a kid with Shels (by his own admission, the move across the water demanded he look after himself better), but those miles on the clock wear you down.
This can’t last forever. He’ll hope – we all hope – the swansong comes in Russia, and just how O’Neill uses him in the games against Georgia on Saturday and Serbia in Dublin the following Tuesday could be critical in getting us there.
Ireland were fortunate to overcome Georgia at the Aviva last October, when the opportunism and drive of Seamus Coleman was rewarded with a dollop of luck to break the deadlock and take the three points. Vladimir Weiss’s side were good that night. They deserved a draw, and not in a ‘first-to-every-ball, have-a-go underdog’ sort of way either way.
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Ireland were largely outplayed by a technically accomplished side who looked more comfortable in possession than their hosts. "I thought this would be a night for patience, but Christ this has been hard to watch," Richie Sadlier lamented at half-time on the RTÉ panel.
Three days later, ‘Wessi’ started against Moldova, orchestrating a 3-1 win and collecting the man of the match award. That game showcased why so many are left flummoxed when he doesn’t start against teams like Georgia. He made the opening goal for Shane Long with a terrific first-time pass and produced a clever flick-on to Coleman in the build-up to the game-clinching third, knocked home by McClean.
Minus James McCarthy, Jeff Hendrick and Eunan O’Kane it’s hard to see how Hoolahan won’t feature in both the upcoming games; then again O’Neill’s horses-for-courses approach could see him bring Jon Walters back into the midfield beside Glenn Whelan, Harry Arter, James McClean and Aiden McGeady.
He’s spoken all week of his respect of the Georgians – "I’ll take any sort of win" – and, a cautious manager by nature anyway, that may mean he’ll hold Hoolahan back.
That, as always, would trigger a national debate. Ireland have four games left to make next year’s World Cup. After this week’s two-game burst, there’s a home clash with Moldova and then a climactic trip to Wales. They’re second in Group D behind Serbia only on goal difference and have a real shot at leapfrogging the murky waters of the play-offs and booking an express ticket to the main event as group winners.
It’s difficult to predict how big a role Hoolahan will play in that run-in or exactly when he’ll call it a day, but, like all great entertainers, when he does walk away he’ll leave them wanting more. For now it’s best to savour the final flourish of one of modern soccer’s true cult heroes.
Georgia v Republic of Ireland (kick-of 5pm) is live on RTÉ2 from 4pm, radio commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Saturday Sport and live blog on RTÉ Sport Online and the News Now App.
