with Joe Shaughnessy
JOE SHAUGHNESSY
We’re among friends here at Pittodrie, so let’s be honest with each other. Whatever they might think down south, it was Scotland that gave football to the world, Scotland that created football’s real first style of play with the skilful tanner ba’ players, jinking wingers, guys that people would pay good money to go and see.
Deep inside our footballing DNA has always been the desire to spread the word, to go out there and do missionary work, to teach the world how to play. And here in Aberdeen, we’re still doing just that, including educating a young English born Irishman by the name of Shaughnessy.
While the Dons suffered trials, tribulation and lousy decisions through the month of December, while the injury list was longer than Santa’s Christmas shopping list, such is the positive nature of things around the club that even in defeat there have been things to relish, most notably the arrival on the scene of young Joe, a player who is the perfect advert of what the AFC Youth Academy tries to do with its players.
Ostensibly a centre-half, Joe has played as a wing-back on both side of the park and has shown as much promise going forward as in his more accustomed defensive role. That is testimony to the way Aberdeen’s youngsters are schooled not just in their position, but in the game as a whole, such that they can express themselves all over the pitch, something Joe has been doing to great effect of late.
It also proves that while we are scouring the local area for the best talent, we are not afraid to go further afield to find and bring back young footballers that we feel can add something to the club. AFC Youth Academy Chief Scout Colin Grant has been on many a scouting trip to Ireland and Joe is not alone as part of Aberdeen’s Irish contingent with Mathew McMahon, Alan O’Sullivan, Danny Rogers, Sean Hume all forging their own careers here too.
In spite of finding him in Ireland, Joe was actually born in England as he explains. “I was born in Reading in England and then when I was about seven I moved to Ireland. We lived in a small town in the county called Oughterard which was about 30 minutes from Galway. I played most of my football in Galway. After playing for a local team I represented County Galway at national level. My Dad is Irish and my mum is English although a lot of her family are from the Galway area. So I am mainly Irish!
“I was playing for an Irish home based side when I was 15 in Derry at the Foyle Cup which is a well know tournament. The game I was spotted in, I was actually a sub and only came on for the last 15 minutes. In that short space of time though I did everything I possibly could on a football pitch! I put in some good tackles, won a few headers, passed the ball really well and kept it, it was one of those days when everything went right.
“I did not know it at the time, but Colin Grant was watching me and was obviously impressed with my little cameo appearance! I then got a phone call and asked if I could go and meet Colin at the Galway Cup. Where they play the tournament is only 20 minutes away from my house so I went and met them.
“I then came over to Aberdeen during the October holidays for a week and stayed at the Barracks. That was quite an introduction to professional football! I did well though and got invited over again in January for another trial and then they offered me a contract and I have been here ever since! I have been here for four years now and I don’t get home very often so Aberdeen feels like home to me now.
“I was 17 when I had to pack my bags and come over to Aberdeen. It is hard to leave home, leave school early and leave all your friends that you have grown up with. Although it is hard, it is the commitment you have to make if you want to be a professional footballer. It does make it easier knowing that you are coming over here to do something you always wanted. When you are put in digs with a family and two other of the young players it also makes it easier.
“I think Aberdeen as a club is so easy to settle into. I have spoke to other players who have come over from Ireland and they tell me that at their clubs it is far more separated between the first team and the youth team. Everyone comes in here and shares the same canteen at the same time. At some clubs in England, the youth players have to wait until the first team boys are finished eating. When you hear that you realise that at Aberdeen it is like one big family.
“Football runs in the family because my brother joined Reading in the summer and plays for their U18 side. Like our own Alan O’Sullivan, it has taken him a while to get FIFA Clearance to play. He did not get clearance until the middle of October so he could not play any competitive games before then, but he is doing really well now. He is a central midfielder, he is even taller than me and is a really good player and has been involved in the Ireland set up”.
Previous generations of Aberdeen youngsters have had to sink or swim in sides that weren’t always getting the results and where there were fewer senior pros around to help them through. As Joe accepts, the current crop is much more fortunate than their predecessors.
“It is so much better having the experienced players about the place. It is incredible what effect they have in a dressing room, I would not have believed it before I went in there. Stephen Hughes, Gavin Rae and Russell have all made a massive difference. They have been there and done it all. They know what to expect and they pass that knowledge onto the younger players. You see all the young lads that are coming through and part of that is because of the influence of these guys. We all see what they do and understand what we have to do to play at that level. We see the attitude that they have”.
Patience is a big part of the professional’s armoury and Joe had to wait for his chance to play in the first team, an opportunity that came in May 2011 down at Hibernian.
“It was quite a week for me. I signed my new contract at the start of it. Then at the hotel in Edinburgh on the Saturday, I got told at the pre-match meal about half an hour before the game that I would be starting. It came as quite a shock. I hadn’t even made a substitute appearance before then. It was a very special day for me and I will always remember it as the game had extra significance as there was a tribute to Eddie Turnbull before the match.
“There I was playing centre back in the SPL, in front of 14,000 people at the age of 18. I was up against Riordan and Sodje, whose shirt I have back in my flat. Hibs had quite a number of big names playing that day but it did not faze me. I just went about my business, but it was quite difficult stepping up to first team level. I remember getting cramp in about the 70th minute and I spent the last part of the game willing the clock to go down! We won the game as well which was nice. Then shortly after that I went away with the Ireland U19 side, so it was an amazing few weeks for me”.
At the start of the following season, Joe went off to join Forfar Athletic on loan, a period that he feels was invaluable. “Having played at U19 level for two seasons it was good to go on loan at Forfar and play at senior level in the Second Division. It was a bit funny going out on loan at first. All of sudden, you’re a Forfar player and I did feel a bit of things. But you still train with the lads every day, the only difference is that you go away and play for someone else on a Saturday. Quite often the manager and Archie would come down and watch our games if it did not clash with the Dons’ match. Then when you come back in on a Monday, everyone has looked out for the score and wants to know how you got on. Although we did not have the best of seasons last year it was still a really good experience.
“I then came back to play for the U20s this season, which I am able to do because we are allowed three over age players. Whatever level you are playing at, you have to go out and perform and always have the right attitude. It is also good to play a game after spending the whole week training.
“The aim of the U20s was always to play well there and then get your opportunity at first team level. I have felt that I have done well this season for the 20s and it has worked out well because I have got my chance and I have taken it.
“It was hard to be patient, but at the same time I only have to look at the players who are ahead of me, keeping me out of the side. There is the club captain, Russell Anderson, the vice captain Andrew Considine who was the club’s player of the year last season and then you have Mark Reynolds as well, so I always knew it was going to be hard for me! I knew it was a case of just biding me time and just waiting. I have to remind myself also that I am still very young to be a centre-back in the SPL. You need experience to play that position, so it was not real surprise that I got my opportunity as a left winger. On the afternoon before the game my good friend Nicky Low was giving me lots of advice on how to play left wing! When I was younger I used to enjoy play different positions so it was no problem”.
Joe has been superb since coming into the side, and although he is a centre half he has turned on the sort of skills that Messi would have been proud of! There was one particular drag back that left three Kilmarnock players standing, looking at thin air.
“I don’t know what came over me! The ball was at my feet and I knew I could do it, I would do it in training when I was messing about, but I never thought that I would do it in a game. Thankfully the move came off. Maybe it is a sign I am growing in confidence. When I first played against Hibs I was very nervous and I am still nervous before games, but once you get out onto the pitch I feel fine. It is what I train to do every day. At first the adrenaline would pump through you, but now I am better at just thinking things through before a game, thinking about what I have to do and just concentrate on that, going over it in my head. That helps relax you and I then go out onto the pitch knowing what I have to do. I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, and what I can do and what I can’t. I feel comfortable now”.
On top of some good displays, Joe was also on hand to score a key goal in the Scottish Cup against Motherwell, though it’s an achievement he is characteristically modest about.
“I have no idea what I was doing in the box! I know as a defender you should never let the ball go across you in the box. When I have done that, you breathe a sigh of relief that no one is coming in at the back post. So I took a gamble and made the forward run. When I saw that Jonny had got the break of the ball and was heading into the box, I just kept on going.
“Murphy the left winger was meant to be marking me but he let me go and the left-back did not know I was there, so I tapped it home into the empty net. It was a wonderful feeling. I hopped over the adverting boards to celebrate with the fans, quickly realised the fans were in the top tier of the stand, so there was no one to celebrate with so quickly hopped back over the boards again! It was a great feeling because I know how important a goal it was. We have the cup to look forward to in February although it is important that our league form improves and that we get a win this afternoon ahead of the Christmas period”.
With Joe impressing for the Dons, it might not be long before he starts knocking on the door of a Republic of Ireland squad that might be in need of a revamp after the disappointing European Championship performances.
“Anticlimax would be the best way to describe the summer’s European Championships! It was just so disappointing. I think we only managed to score one goal. Everyone in Ireland was particularly disappointed as we have waited so long to get to a major tournament and then we did not perform. Like Scotland, even if the team are not playing well you still expect plenty of fight but they did not even have that. They did not have the Irish mentality I suppose but saying that, I think we were outclassed and it was maybe a step too far for that side.
“There are still a lot of young lads from Ireland going over to England and going to Premiership clubs. It kind of seems when you get to 16 in Ireland, if you are any good clubs will snap you up. I suppose it is because they have the money to do it, similar to what they did with Jack Grimmer. Some make it, some do not. The standard is still high, as the Ireland U19s reached the semis of the European Championships before getting beat by Spain and U21 team is very strong as well. I think in a few years Ireland will have a strong side again.
“I am now at U21 level internationally but to get a call up I will need to be playing regularly. Almost all the boys in the squad are playing for their clubs. Hopefully now if I can keep my form going I might get a run in the side and then you never know!”
