Ipswich midfielder Taylor reflects on incredibly proud Republic of Ireland debut

The 26-year-old player grabbed the attention of new Irish manager Heimir Hallgrímsson with his exceptional performances for Kieran McKenna’s team in the Premier League this season. This also led to his teammates Dara O’Shea, Sammie Szmodics, and Chiedozie Ogbene being called up to represent Ireland in the Nations League.

Taylor spoke of what a proud moment it was to pull on the shirt and walk out onto the pitch despite the hostile atmosphere from the Greek fans. 

“It was an incredibly proud moment for me and my family, coming on in such a hostile atmosphere and we were obviously 1-0 down when I came on,” Taylor told RTE. 

“I thought if I bring some energy, we’ll definitely get a goal back and I think we deserved a point in the end.” 

The midfielder went on to say how patient he has been in waiting for his debut and how Ireland deserved a point against Greece as they fought hard to get back into the game before Caoimhin Kelleher made a costly mistake to help the hosts to a 2-0 win. 

“Football’s a squad game, you never know you’re going to be called upon and if a game’s not going a certain way, you need to bring a different intensity and make an impact on the game. 

“All the subs did and we’re happy with that, but the individual errors over the last couple of games, we don’t really need to concede to get going. We’ll sort that out and we definitely deserved a point.” 

Manager Hallgrímsson praised Taylor in his first game.

“He is one of a few players in this camp, in these two games, that came in and changed things, and that is what you want to see when you put in substitutes,” the Icelander said. 

“You would like to see players step up and make the difference and show the coach and the country, 'I’m here, I want to be in this team'. 

“I think this game, and more players as well, the same last game with (Watford’s) Festy (Ebosele), more players came in and made a difference. So I’m happy with that, that is what we want to see.”