Robbie Brady delivers verdict on Ireland’s ‘millions and millions of pounds of talent’ after win

Robbie Brady scored the goal that earned Ireland a first ever Nations League away win, as the Boys in Green beat Finland in Helsinki

Goal hero Robbie Brady reckons Ireland’s dressing room is packed with “millions and millions of pounds of talent” - and that qualification for major tournaments is back on the agenda.

Brady scored the late winner in Helsinki on Thursday night as the Boys in Green came from behind to beat Finland, and claim a first ever three-point haul on the road in the Nations League.

Liam Scales and Brady both found the net in the second-half after a Nathan Collins error had gifted Joel Pohjanpalo an 18th minute opener.

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The win was no less than Heimir Hallgrímsson’s men deserved, Euro 2016 star Brady declared afterwards.

And the hero of Lille added that Ireland should be looking to return to the big stage by qualifying for European Championships and World Cups once again.

“It feels amazing,” he said after a win that the players celebrated in front of over 1,000 travelling supporters.

“It’s frustrating, we know the results haven’t been great for the last few years. And it can weigh on you a bit, especially for the lads, it’s a young group.

“But like I said, we have millions and millions of pounds of talent in that dressing room, it’s not like we’re all a crop of bad players.

“It’s just making sure it all clicks and I think the work that we’ve been doing through the week was solid, although it wasn’t perfect.

“We were under the cosh a bit during the game and we’ll look to fix that but it’s just good to get a win and get that feeling back and enjoy the feeling but push on and add more wins.”

Picking up Nations League points will be crucial to Ireland’s hopes of smoothing the path to the 2026 World Cup, as seedings will be determined by the results and effect they have on world rankings.

Brady, who scored the winner against Italy in Euro 2016 and netted again in the last-16 clash with hosts France, would love to experience tournament football again.

“I try to explain to lads at different times and talking about and saying that you don’t know what an opportunity you have, with the group we have, I don’t see why not, why we can’t go and compete in tournaments,” he said.

“And it’s not just for us, you can see the lift it gives everybody, the whole country, it means the world to everybody.

“And you don’t want to miss out on tournaments, the more tournaments that you can go and play in is incredible and we’ll be putting everything we can into qualifying for tournaments going forward.”

Reflecting on Ireland’s win in Finland, Brady said: “It was a strange game. We gave ourselves a bit of a hill to climb but Scalesy’s header, what a great header.

“And I was lucky enough to get one myself at the end. It felt great.

“I have the licence to go forward when we have the ball and I probably would like to up there more throughout the game but the timing of it was perfect.

“Festy (Ebosele) did brilliant to get the ball to me and luckily enough it went in.

“We worked on (set-pieces) for quite a while. If you have lads like we have who are willing to go and head the ball in the right areas, we’re going to cause teams problems.”

Brady has had a tough time through injury in recent years and he has often wondered if his chance would come again at international level.

“The goal felt important to me tonight, I’ve been in and out of favour as well over the last few years, I managed to get myself back in the fold and I’m glad to contribute when here,” he said.

“It means the world to me. Like I’ve always said, the highlight of my career has always been playing for my country.

“And you realise when you’re not in the fold how much you miss it.

“I put in a lot of hard work and I feel I deserve to be in around it at the minute and I’m glad I got to show it tonight.”

Asked if he ever feared if he would be back, Brady replied: “You never know, do you, when you’re out of favour with someone. But all you can do is get your head down and work hard and that’s what I’ve been doing.

“I’ve got gametime under my belt at club level, I feel fit, I’ve had a fair share of injuries over the years, that hasn’t helped.

“But I will always continue to work hard. If it gives me half a chance of getting back and playing in a green jersey I’ll give everything I have.”

Next up is Sunday’s clash with Greece in Athens and Brady is ready to once again play the role of a senior squad member and help the younger players in what is sure to be a hostile atmosphere.

“I thought there were some good individual performances tonight and we showed character as a team,” he said.

“But we’ll be looking to build on that as a team. As I said, we weren’t perfect and we’ve got a game in three days, we rest and go again.”

He added: “The only way you build confidence is winning games. Like I said a few times, it wasn’t perfect tonight.

“But to show that grit to come back and win a game, they’re a solid team, made it hard at times, pushed us back at times.

“But I thought the lads dug in well and got a crucial win for morale and what we need going forward.”

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