Sheffield United defender, John Egan, scored for the Republic of Ireland last night in a 2-1 defeat against Scotland.
Egan skippered the Irish and looked to be on course for the perfect night as he fired in a loose ball into the bottom corner to put Ireland one nil up. However, a second half improvement from Scotland ensured they fought back to win in the end as Egan and co succumbed to defeat.
In the main, though, it was a positive night for Egan. For United, it appeared the defender came through unscathed as well, although Ireland face Armenia in two days’ time in what will be another nervy 90 minutes for Paul Heckingbottom.
For Egan, it will have been a proud night to captain his country. The Blades star has been consistently outstanding for United ever since he signed. And the Irish media, too, seemed happy enough with their new skipper.
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Media React To John Egan’s Ireland Display
Despite not getting overly high ratings from the usual respected Irish media outlets, it seems Egan did enough to impress at the back. His partnership with Nathan Collins seems to have caught the eye as well.
“The 29-year-old wore the captain’s armband for the first time last October, and it might just become the norm from now on given how the Ireland defence is shaping up. He rose to the challenge of dealing with Lyndon Dykes for long periods and when he rifled in that first-half goal it looked as if it would be the perfect night. But that was not to be the case. Got a yellow in the second half too but this should be a defence that only grows stronger together,” RTE wrote when giving Egan a 6/10 rating.
The Irish Times went a bit better than RTE in their assessment, awarding the Blades defender a solid 7/10 for his night’s work, albeit with a mention of a slight error.
“An excellent first half by the Sheffield United defender, strong in defence like Collins and made several blocks. His finish for the goal was outstanding. In the second half, he could have been positioned slightly better for Hendry’s goal and his apparent push on Browne did not help in the penalty incident.”
Mr Consistent
The two write ups above say it all about John Egan. He goes about his business with minimal fuss so when he does make any sort of mistake, it’s usually noticeable. That’s what happened last night.
Egan has been brilliant for Sheffield United over the years. He can be overlooked for just how good he is but should Egan ever be injured or out for a while, then the Blades would be a far worse team for it.
Certainly, it’s easy to see why the likes of Leeds and others have been credited with interest in Egan recently.
