patdolan

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With Ireland we tend to get our feelgood factor from what we do with the ball in terms of scoring goals, creating and stopping goals, and this makes the difference between a successful team and one that's not.

This is what going to Luxembourg is about; the first aim is to start with a clean sheet, even though we have not have kept our opponents scoreless in our last four games and only kept one clean sheet in our last six.

But look at the goalkeeping talent we can boast, with Caoimhin Kelleher and Gavin Bazunu shining lights in our squad.

And we have got lots of others coming through.

For any Irish football team, having a good keeper and a good defence is absolutely vital.

And when you look at a player who is such a monster of a man as Jake O'Brien - yet to be tested as a first choice in the team — it gives you even more hope.

What character Jake has.

He has just turned 24 and after starting with Youghal United and Lakewood Athletic he got a break after impressing at Cork City and then moving to Crystal Palace.

His career never really took off at the Eagles and the games he played were on loan to Swindon and in Belgium where he won his first trophy - Molenbeek clinching promotion to their top flight which, in turn, got him a big move to Lyon.