Elliot positive about future prospects as EURO 2016 heartache hits home

It was the cruelest of blows. In a season where he has been a shining light for a relegation-threatened Newcastle United side, Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Rob Elliot would have viewed winning his fourth senior international cap in the recent friendly against Slovakia as the perfect opportunity to stake a claim for a EURO 2016 starting berth.

Alas, fate wasn’t to be so kind as a cruciate knee ligament injury picked up in the first half saw the 29-year-old stopper stretchered off to a round of sympathetic applause from the watching supporters as his aspirations to dislodge Ireland’s number one jersey from team-mate Darren Randolph were dashed in an instant.

While the timing of this particular blow may be painful for Elliot, it’s not the first time he has had to recover a major injury. Speaking before his most recent stroke of misfortune, the Greenwich-born keeper, who qualifies for Ireland through his family in Cork, reflected on the last time he faced enforced time away from the game.

“I tore my thigh against Chelsea in December 2014. And then I didn’t play a game until we played Norwich in October or November 2015. It was a really bad time for me and I didn’t see a future, especially at the level I’m playing at now. But the experience I’ve taken out of it is you have to keep working hard and keep your head right because you just never know what is going to happen in football. It’s such a crazy game.”

That philosophical nature is sure to stand Elliot in good stead as he comes to terms with having to watch Ireland’s third European Championship campaign from afar. The timing of the injury sustained against Switzerland, as well as Eliott’s status as an in-form back-up goalkeeper ready to pounce on his country’s number one jersey draws eerie comparisons to that of Jack Butland, England’s young understudy to regular keeper Joe Hart, who was stretchered off in the recent win against Germany and has also been ruled out of this summer’s tournament.

While the goalkeepers raised a few smiles on social media by making arrangements to watch the European Championships on Butland’s television over a few beers, they will both doubtless have preferred to be standing between the sticks in front of packed stadia throughout France or, failing that, sitting on the bench ready to be called into action if needed. Both Ireland and England have seen the tournament dreams of their international stars crushed before. In Ireland, some may remember Niall Quinn taking a punditry role on RTÉ after a cruciate ligament injury ruled him out of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, while the metatarsal bones of England stars such as David Beckham and Wayne Rooney have dominated headlines in the build-up to major tournaments in the recent past. All these players have come back stronger and Elliot will hope the same happens for him.

Until then, the former Charlton Athletic man has the distraction of being a new father to help wile away those long afternoons. His son Max was born in December 2014 and his second child is due this September. Like most new fathers, the experience has altered Elliot’s outlook on life and allowed him to put the low points such as his recent injury into perspective. Alongside his new role as doting dad, his position as Newcastle’s first-choice goalkeeper during the prolonged absence of Tim Krul has given him plenty of recent high points despite the struggles of the club as a whole.

“Personally it’s gone well. I just obviously want the team situation to sort itself out, to try and get a push to stay in the Premier League. Things like becoming a father make you realise that when the lows are so bad, you’ve got to enjoy the highs and you have to enjoy the pressure that comes with it because when the day comes that you’re retired and sitting on your sofa, you’ll never be able to get that sort of thing back.”

With that kind of positive outlook, Elliot should be in good shape to keep goal in the Premier League again next season. Whether or not that is for Newcastle United is a different matter as the Magpies face an uphill battle to secure their top flight status, made all the more difficult by the absence of their star keeper. However, if Elliot’s recent career trajectory continues, along with successful World Cup qualifying campaigns for Ireland and England, who’s to say he and Butland won’t be toasting a trip to Russia in two years time?

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