I HAD intended to write this piece for the early December issue of Hot Press but deadlines intervened and it was put on hold. I’m glad it was. In the intervening fortnight, the entire complexion of Ireland’s World Cup prospects has been altered. Because it looks now as if we’ll be without one of our most vital assets in the United States come June of next year.

The news when it emerged almost a fortnight ago that Niall Quinn had suffered severe damage to the cruciate ligament was, literally, stunning. At first I refused to believe it. A careless word had been spoken and some tabloid hack was engaged in the familiar act of exaggerating the bad news. It was the obvious explanation.

Unfortunately it wasn’t an accurate one. I know people who were so plunged into a black despair when they heard the grim tidings that they couldn’t work. To describe it as a hammer blow is to understate the case. And it isn’t just that Niall Quinn is such a patently decent, intelligent, down-to-earth fellow – though that fact does underline the heartbreaking aspect of the injury, and its consequences for him on a personal level.

The awful truth is that Niall Quinn is absolutely central to Jack Charlton’s established gameplan. Not only that, he is an exceptionally gifted player, perhaps the best ‘target-man’ operating in Britain right now. His height causes even the most organised and purposeful of defences severe problems – in most Irish matches Quinn is marked in effect by one and a half members of the opposition. The fear which he inspires in opposing sides is crucial, in ensuring that his striking partner John Aldridge and the midfield runners are afforded the maximum space in which to operate.

But he is not just a typical gangling centre-forward with a higher than normal level of power and subtlety in the air. Over his years as a professional, Quinn has spent considerable time outside normal training hours honing his ground skills – developing his touch, his passing and his on-the-ball composure. He lacks pace, sure, but that limitation aside he’s as close to the finished article as you’re likely to find – a player who is capable of demoralising and destroying the opposition just as effectively as Alan Shearer, Ian Wright or Les Ferdinand, albeit in an entirely different way. And if you need confirmation, ask Gary Pallister, against whom Quinn put away two in the recent Manchester derby.

In that sense he is one of the players around whom Jack Charlton shapes his team. Paul McGrath, Roy Keane, Andy Townsend, Steve Staunton and Niall Quinn – they are the big five for Big Jack, and the loss of any of them would be a potentially devastating blow. But my own hunch is that if he goes for a straight swop, then Quinn will prove to be the hardest to replace.

It is of course the obvious move. Tony Cascarino is an ex-perienced international and he has substituted for both Quinn and John Aldridge ably on a regular basis. He has also scored a significant number of vital goals for Ireland as a substitute. But there is a vast difference between coming in ten or fifteen minutes from the end of a fixture and causing havoc in the opposition defence and doing the same thing from the start. A player who is introduced as a substitute, 75 minutes into a game, has the obvious advantage that all around him are warriors who have shed blood, sweat and occasionally tears and who are thus close to the end of their collective tether. Tony Cascarino tends to look fit, sharp, quick even in those circumstances.

When he’s on from the beginning, however, he can seem to labour. He’s big, strong and game, and a very fine header of the ball and he’ll work his guts out in the cause. But unless he gets back into Chelsea’s first team and starts to score goals, I wouldn’t like to feel that we were going to the U.S. with him as our first-choice partner for John Aldridge.

The word is that Jack Charlton and Maurice Setters are currently scouring the English and Scottish leagues for potential recruits, who might add an extra bit of fire-power to the Irish squad. I haven’t seen enough of Sean McCarthy, who recently moved from Bradford City to Oldham for £500,000, to know how he rates. If he gets a good run with Oldham and continues to bang ’em in at this higher level he’d certainly be worth an experiment. But I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Nor would I in relation to Portsmouth’s John Durnin, who has apparently also been expressing an interest in being called up. Millwalls’ Mark Kennedy, at just 17, is a rank outsider, but again if he does the business consistently for his club, manager Mick McCarthy will certainly let Jack Charlton know. And then there’s Tommy Coyne, who has had to come to terms with the tragic death of his wife over the past year, but who is now back in action for Motherwell.

Tony Cascarino aside, none of these players compares even remotely to Niall Quinn. There is, however, one Irish player currently playing in the premiership who might, and that’s Lee Power. The problem is that he doesn’t get a game regularly at Norwich, so it’s not easy to make a definitive judgement – but when he has played this season, he’s been fiercely impressive. Strong, robust and quick he can also play a bit. He’s effective in the air, deft on the ground, holds the ball up well, knows how (and when) to pass, isn’t afraid to run at the opposition and has a good eye for goal. There seems to be a doubt, however, concerning his ‘attitude’.

Now I wouldn’t blame anybody for having an attitude problem about the fact that most football managers treat their players – grown adults for the most part! – like children. And maybe that’s the kind of thing that’s at the root of mystery about Lee Power’s apparent under-achievement. But there’s a window of opportunity open for him now, and he has six months in which to play himself into the starting line-up in the first match in the U.S.

In that position, I’d be making friends with Norwich boss Mike Walker very quickly and phoning Jack Charlton to let him know how serious my intentions were. Fired by enough ambition, and given a good run in the Norwich first team, Lee Power could offer one very viable option.

There is one other possibility which Jack Charlton must be considering, and that’ s whether or not there’s any player already in the Irish squad who might be converted into an effective striking partner for John Aldridge. It isn’t such a far-fetched idea when you consider the impact which Paul Warhurst had at Sheffield Wednesday last season. And given the difficulties which we encounter, at full strength, in accommodating John Sheridan and Ronnie Whelan in midfield, perhaps this is the way salvation lies.

Ironically, midfield has been a problem area for the Republic recently. In particular in the game against Northern Ireland, both Andy Townsend and Roy Keane played below their pedigree with neither seeming to have the composure or the confidence to take the ball down and dictate the flow of the game, even against opposition which on paper at least was decidedly inferior.

My own feeling is that the players are too similar in style, a superior product of the British hard-running, harrying school of midfield excellence in both instances perhaps, but decidedly lacking in genuine creativity. Neither is a noted passer of the ball, which explains in part at least why there has been such a distinct lack of imagination about the Republic’s build-up recently. In short, there’s an absence of vision – a quality which we will desperately need if we are to prosper in World Cup ’94.

So here’s the solution: if he’s fully fit, introduce John Sheridan as a first choice central midfielder alongside Andy Townsend. The vision and composure he brought to the troubled midfield against Spain was in stark contrast to those who were huffing and puffing around him – and even moreso, that was a quality we could have done with in the black heat of Windsor Park. He is also a dead-ball specialist, offering another option at free kicks and corners – a skill which isn’t to be under-estimated given the hames that Eddie McGoldrick made of the corner-taking job in Belfast, turning attack into defence with a single swing of the boot on more than one occasion.

This gameplan would allow Jack to experiment with Roy Keane as John Aldridge’s striking partner.

If it seems daft at first, think again. Brian Clough once said of Roy Keane that he could play anywhere – including centre-forward – and went some way towards proving it by subsequently playing him at centre half! I think he might be even more successful up front.

He’s big, strong, mobile and powerful in the air. He wouldn’t be intimidated and indeed his pace might be a real asset, offering a degree of penetration which we don’t currently enjoy, even with Niall Quinn around. He’s a proven goal-scorer at club level, most of them being close range efforts. And while the majority of these come from deep runs, with Keane suddenly materialising in the box to devastating effect, he hasn’t been able to make his mark in the same way for Ireland. Maybe it’s about time we started to use his goal-scoring ability.

Of course it’d be a gamble – but not on the scale that should prove too daunting for a manager who made a midfielder out of Paul McGrath against the player’s wishes and better judgement. There are a bunch of friendlies coming up in which the results will be far less important than what Jack Charlton can learn about the players at his disposal. Even if he doesn’t have John Sheridan or Ronnie Whelan available, I’d like to see him try Keane in an out-and-out striker’s role because while we’re strong in midfield cover, we’re not upfront. And the idea of Keane running at the opposition centre-backs on a regular basis induces a frisson of anticipation. It mightn’t work. But if it did . . .

Either way I’m convinced that the biggest problem facing Jack Charlton in the build-up to the World Cup relates not to age, as the common consensus seems to have it, but to creativity and composure. The anticipated return of Steve Staunton on the left side of midfield will help considerably but there have been disconcerting signs about the quality of the ball coming from the Irish defence for some time now. Packie Bonner’s lack of confidence in dealing with the now not-so-new backpass rule has led him to pump perfectly good possession into the stands on occasion. And even when he does keep the ball on the pitch he seldom ‘finds’ an Irish player with his clearances, meaning that the front runners are too often forced to chase energy-sappingly after scraps.

The same is true of Alan Kernaghan, who gets his clearances in but has a terrible tendency to punt the ball aimlessly forward first time, and occasionally to slice it up in the air in the process. And even Terry Phelan has been guilty of squandering possession, clearing his lines first and looking up and thinking about it later.

The only way around this is for the central midfield players to come looking for the ball more, to take responsibility and to bring a bit of much-needed composure to a style of football that has recently shown all the grace and precision of a neophyte at a pinball machine. And there is no one in the Irish squad capable of doing that better than a fully fit John Sheridan.

I’m not worried about Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran or John Aldridge. If they’re fit which of course is something you can never bank on in football – they’ll not let us down. And it was encouraging that the embattled Ray Houghton had his best international game for a long time in Belfast, where he was unlucky to be substituted . . .

No, I think Jack Charlton is going to have to address himself to something far more fundamental, and that is the quality of the ball coming out of defence and the ability of our central midfielders to control the game. And, of course, how to replace Niall Quinn.

Here’s the Stokes recipe for success in the U.S.: Bring in John Sheridan. Push Roy Keane forward. Play Kevin Moran rather than Alan Kernaghan. And make sure that Packie Bonner takes part in five-a-sides every day between now and June, in which he can practice using his feet – both of them – to pass the ball.

Oh and even a card-carrying atheist like me would have to add: keep saying those prayers that Niall Quinn might make the cut. Now where’s that number I had for Finbarr Nolan . . .