Ruaidhri Higgins honoured to receive Ireland and Stephen Kenny's call

Former Derry City midfielder Ruaidhri Higgins admits it's an honour to get the chance to work for Ireland.
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The Limavady man, who was recently appointed onto Stephen Kenny's back-room team as Ireland's chief scout and opposition analyst, is excited by the challenges ahead.

"It's a huge honour and privilege first and foremost to be offered an opportunity to represent your country in an exciting role," he stated.

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"Obviously I had an amazing time at Dundalk and I'm very thankful for the time that I had there, we had good success, but this opportunity was genuinely too difficult to turn down.

Ex-Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins shares a joke with St Patrick's Athletic manager Stephen ODonnell.Ex-Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins shares a joke with St Patrick's Athletic manager Stephen ODonnell.
Ex-Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins shares a joke with St Patrick's Athletic manager Stephen ODonnell.

"This opportunity might never come up again and with the amount of fixtures that they are going to be over the next 12/18 months means there's going to be a lot of work on it and it's something that I really want to be a part of and something that I'm excited to get my teeth into.

"My new job is going to be very, very exciting, part of my role will be to go and study the opposition and doing a lot of work of every single team we play, so yeah I'm going to be looking at real marquee players over Europe and the world, as we have World Cup qualifiers next year.

"So yeah we have a lot of work to do but it's going to be very interesting going to look at the players and teams at this kind of level and I suppose along with the management team try to come up with plans to go and get positive results against them."

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Having played a big role in Dundalk's recent success and having travelled across Europe as their opposition analyst, Higgins is well used to life back on the road.

Ruaidhri Higgins in action for Derry City at Drogheda United.Ruaidhri Higgins in action for Derry City at Drogheda United.
Ruaidhri Higgins in action for Derry City at Drogheda United.

"It's going to be busy, as I'll be in England most weeks whenever everything settles down, watching our own players, then obviously I'll be away studying the opposition and flying here, there and everywhere, but it's something that I have done before," he added.

"Whenever Dundalk were playing in Europe I was flying off watching matches in different countries so I'm street wise enough in that sense.

"But as I said it's an unbelievably exciting job and I think it's a job that probably suits my skill set as well."

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Higgins who has worked with Kenny both as a player and as a coach knows what the Dubliner is all about.

Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins.Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins.
Dundalk coach Ruaidhri Higgins.

"There's a lot on and you can be sure working with Stephen that he'll have tasks for me on a daily basis and he'll leave no stone unturned. He's very meticulous in his preparation," he explained.

"There's a good work ethic amongst the staff and everyone wants to contribute and I'm really excited not only working with Stephen but the rest of the coaching staff."

Since deciding to hang up his boots in 2017, Higgins really has had success after success in his coaching career at Dundalk.

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In fact apart from a brief spell at Coleraine before his retirement, the Limavady native really has only known one thing during his time at Oriel Park and that’s winning.

During his spells as a player, opposition analysts/first team coach and assistant manager Higgins won nine honours - 3 Premier Division, 1 FAI Cup and 3 League Cups, 1 Presidents Cup and 1 Champions Cup - and as usual humble Ruaidhri praised everyone else for his stint with the Lilywhites.

“I won the league in three different roles at Dundalk, as a player, then opposition analysts/first team coach and then assistant manager,” he explained.

“The first year I was there we didn’t win the league and that was disappointing, but the majority of it we have been very successful.

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“The group of players at that club I can’t speak highly enough of, they were absolutely sensational to work with and they are a brilliant group of people and I’ll miss them very much, in fact the whole club and everyone there were fantastic to work with and the club is in really good order, so obviously I’m delighted to have played some sort of part in their recent success at the club.”

The 35-year-old, who has worked with Stephen Kenny as a player two spells at the Brandywell before making the switch to Dundalk and even during his playing days the two seemed to have a good rapport.

When Gerry Spain left his post as opposition scout at Dundalk in January 2017, Kenny turned to Higgins to take over the reins.

“I have a history with Stephen,” he added. “He has obviously signed me a few times as a player and then put me in a coaching position at Dundalk, we just seem to get on with each other and seem to have a good working relationship.

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“There’s a good trust between us and he obviously sees value in what I do.

“Getting the chance to work with Stephen is huge, but getting that chance to work with him with the international team is just incredibly exciting and something that I can’t wait to get stuck into and make the most of the opportunity because they don’t come around too often.

“He would bounce things off me whenever I was a player and we probably saw football quite similarly and had similar views on how we saw the game and I always had the feeling that he liked my opinion on the game, but I didn’t think it would ever go to this length obviously.

“He probably felt that I did a good job for him at Dundalk and it’s a real compliment that he has asked me to work at this level and it’s something that I feel I’m capable of doing, I wouldn’t have taken it on if I didn’t feel I was capable, but I’m thankful and grateful to have been given the opportunity.”

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The ex-Bohemians man is going to have somewhat of a hectic couple of years coming up, as he like a host of top quality coaches has started work on his two year UEFA Pro-Licence course and add that with all the travelling around Europe, Higgins may not see much of his wife Lisa and two daughters, especially once life starts to get back to normal after the current coronavirus pandemic.

“I like structure in my life and I like to be doing stuff because whenever negotiations were going on between Dundalk and the FAI, I think Lisa was getting annoyed with me stuck around the house all day, but now I’m up in the bed room watching matches and I’m out of the way, so I think that suits her more,” he joked.

“Jokes aside Lisa and my whole family have been tremendously supportive throughout my career and they too have played a big part in where I am now.

“It’s going to be a hectic year for me and there has been a lot going on already. While we haven’t met as a group yet for the Pro-Licence, we have been given assignments, so there’s a lot going on and I’ll be busy from all angles but that’s the way I like it.

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“I know Slovakia (Euro 2020 playoff) is the one that everybody is talking about and it’s a really important game, but there’s a lot of work to be done in relation to other nations as well and we are working very hard on that at the minute.

“Obviously it’s a huge game but it’s looking like that there’s Nations League games coming up before that and we have to prepare with them all and we’ll have all of our ducks in our row and hopefully we’ll be well prepared for whatever opponent we come up against.”

Working in the game is something he loves and something that he intends to do for many years to come and working with arguably the League of Ireland’s greatest ever manager will help Higgins to continue to learn.

“It’s great that I’m able to work in football, it’s a real privilege and something that I genuinely don’t take for granted,” he acknowledged.

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“I have loved the game from no age, I have always been interested in it and studied the game from a very young age.

“Football has been my life really, so to be employed in the football industry, which you love is great and working in football is something you dream of when you are growing up and fortunately I have that at the minute, but I know that if I don’t do a good job in whatever job I’m in then it might not last forever, so I’m just very conscious I need to keep working hard and keep developing personally, so I can stay in the game,

“The game is consistently changing all the time and I suppose that’s one thing about Stephen, he has been managing and been successful for 20 odd years, so it shows you he’s moving and developing as is the game and I’m conscious that I need to keep doing the same and keep studying the game to improve and I intend to do so because it’s something that I want to be involved in for the rest of my life.”

In years to come the former Coventry City starlet may take a manager’s job, but he hasn’t thought that far ahead and is only focusing on his new job.

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“I would prefer to get my feet under the table in this job, management jobs may come about a few years down the line and honestly I don’t look that far down the line,” he confirmed.

“This opportunity has come up and it’s something that I want to grab with both hands, but if a management job comes about then I’ll deal with it at that point but I genuinely just want to focus wholeheartedly on the job in hand that I have now and doing the best of it that I possibly can, to help Stephen, the management team and the players, so we can all be as successful as possible.

Higgins, who has played against Ireland’s current skipper Seamus Coleman and was James McClean’s team-mate at the Brandywell can’t wait to get into training camp and meet the whole squad.

“I’m sure knowing James and played against Seamus will be a help when I get in there and I would be familiar with a few of the boys, but whenever we get into camp I hope to get to know the individuals fairly quickly,” he said.

“I have been told by everyone that they are a really good group of lads and I’m really looking forward to working with them and trying to achieve something special over the coming years.”