Sheffield United: Republic of Ireland star identifies the big challenges ahead in the battle for promotion

One to pay the bills and the other, depending upon which of the Gaelic games he eventually decided to plump for, to ensure his name regularly featured in the Irish newspapers.

“My background, growing up in Ireland and being around the GAA circles, you see lads doing the nine to five and then going to training,” Egan explained. “They’re huge names at home but they’re playing amateur sport. The hard work they put in is totally phenomenal. That’s why I enjoy every single day and try to get it across to others - doing what we do, we’re in privileged positions.”

MORE - John Egan on being named captain of Ireland, his hopes for the season and receiving advice from mum

THE SHADOW OVER THE SEASON

The second most famous member of a remarkable family - although his mother Mary, once a pretty mean footballer herself, might disagree with that assessment - Egan is also one of the players expected to lead Sheffield United through one of the most challenging periods in the club’s recent history. Expected to be pushing for automatic promotion after being relegated last season, Paul Heckingbottom’s side are preparing for Wednesday’s visit of West Bromwich Albion ranked 10th in the Championship. Oh, and having experienced a rash of postponements over the Christmas and New Year period, they must sandwich five more fixtures into their schedule before the end of next month.

A gruelling enough run in the best of circumstances. But even more so while Covid-19, which wreaked havoc with the calendar, still casts a shadow over Paul Heckingbottom’s squad. Detailing the lengths United went to in order to fulfil their fixture schedule during an interview earlier this month, he sounded less than impressed by health protocols elsewhere in the division. In fact, Heckingbottom went as far as to suggest his team, who saw four of their rivals granted rearrangements against them, had effectively been punished for doing the right thing. Better, the United manager sarcastically suggested, to let the virus rip through your dressing room and then deal with the consequences rather than take every precaution and still suffer outbreaks - probably when the criteria deciding if a game is unplayable have been beefed-up.

MORE - Another game, another win, another goal for Billy Sharp

“You’ve got to remember that there are people in the world who have lost family members and friends to this,” Egan said. “It’s happening to people now.

“So when you see it come into the building, your first thought is that you hope everyone is going to be okay. All we can do is work hard, put everything into training - the same as we’ve always done and always will - and then know that some games might go ahead and some might not.”

“Listen, whenever games are being called off, you know they’ve not gone forever,” he continued. “Yes, it’s not ideal. Especially when it happens really late, because you’ve put all the work in and then it has to happen all over again. Still, the more games you play, the more chance it gives you to get some momentum. So I’m going to look at it that way.”

WHAT THE BLADES MUST DO

That, momentum, is something United must maintain if they are to stand a chance of reaching the play-offs. If they do, and then go up, it would permanently etch Egan’s name into the history of Bramall Lane. But not even a return to the top-flight would afford him the same profile back home as his late father John. Or, as a former GAA president described him, perhaps the most “iconic” Gaelic footballer of all time.

“Just focus on the present, that’s all we can do,” insisted Egan, who as you would expect is “prouder than you could imagine” of his dad’s achievements, which include six All-Ireland titles with County Kerry. “Whatever happens, whether you win or lose or draw, the last game is in the past. It’s been and gone. Just focus on the next training session and then the one after that. Then the game. That’s how you do it.”

JOHN EGAN IS FOCUSED

Egan didn’t say so. The question wasn’t posed for fear of sounding impolite. But once he decided to try and earn his living from sport, the 29-year-old must have felt under pressure to try and emulate his parents’ achievements. Capped 21 times by the Republic of Ireland and his country’s player of the season, Egan has probably already achieved most things he wanted to in the game. However, the stubborn single-mindedness which helped him turn professional won’t allow the centre-half to rest easy just yet. After helping Chris Wilder lead United out of the second tier and then finish ninth in the top-flight, Egan is targeting another promotion. This time under Heckingbottom, who replaced the former manager’s successor Slavisa Jokanovic at the helm in November.

MORE - Shock selection call explained as Villa man misses win over Birmingham

“Listen, there’s always an element of wanting to prove people wrong,” Egan said, acknowledging that even some of their own supporters are probably writing United off following a chequered start to the campaign. “But you always want to prove yourself right as well, that’s an even bigger thing to be honest, because I believe in these boys and what they can do.”

United were beaten 4-0 when they travelled to The Hawthorns earlier this term. Jokanovic admitted they were bullied but West Brom, who replaced Valerien Ismael with Steve Bruce last week, have been less convincing of late.

Noting United themselves have been “too inconsistent” at times, he said: “We are where we are for a reason. No complaints about that. We know we have to get better and that starts with the very next game. We can’t be looking too far down the line. There’s too much experience here, given what we’ve done before, to allow that to happen.”