Darragh Lenihan’s mental toughness and self-determination meant the Irishman always knew he would make it in the game.
A raft of injuries have curtailed the speed of his progression at times, but the 24-year-old has worked his way from a fledgling central midfield prospect to a central defender good enough to earn his first senior national team call.
His ability to bounce back from setbacks has been demonstrated this season by missing six months of action with a fractured metatarsal, only to earn his first international call-up within six weeks of his return.
Lenihan was an unused substitute in Friday’s defeat in Turkey, but the week away with the senior side will have been a great learning curve for a player aiming to become the first player from Meath to represent his country.
Former Rovers Head of Academy Eric Kinder spent time as Lenihan’s Under-23s boss at Rovers and was key, along with Colin Hendry - someone who knows a bit about defending - to persuading Lenihan to make the switch from central midfield to the heart of the back four.
The road hasn’t been a smooth one for Lenihan, the Irishman admitting himself that the 10-year journey from arriving at Rovers from Dublin-based club Belvedere to his international call-up has been ‘long and lonely’ at times.
But Kinder believes a first national team cap is merely a matter of time.
“He’s very strong minded and determined, all he wanted to be was a professional footballer,” Kinder said of the 24-year-old.
“It (an international cap) will happen, I’m convinced of that, because he’s getting better and better.
“He looks a big powerful defender now. I think it would have happened sooner if he had not picked the injury up at the beginning of the season.
“You hope the latest injury which has kept him out for most of the season is his last one because he’s had his fair share of injuries from being 15.
“He’s 24 now, close on 10 years when he’s not really had a consistent run, but he’s got through that and if anyone deserves a clear run now then it’s Darragh.”
Kinder admits that Lenihan could have opted to return to his native Ireland given his injury problems during his scholarship were it not for the strong mentality the centre back possesses.
The former Academy chief believes a loan spell in League Two with Burton Albion in 2014/15 was key to Lenihan’s progression. He was recalled from the Brewers by Rovers before making his debut against Millwall in April 2015 under Gary Bowyer.
Lenihan played 27 times the following season, then made 44 appearances in 2016/17 and became a key member of the first XI under Owen Coyle and then Tony Mowbray.
“He’s very strong-minded and knows what he wants and where he wants to go, it did take us a fair while to persuade him to play centre half,” Kinder added.
“He wanted to be a central midfield player.
“I think Colin Hendry was my assistant at the time and we both agreed that centre half was where he stood a better chance.
“He fought against us but he agreed to it in the end and it looks like that’s where he’s going to make his mark on the game.
“He’d had a full season in my first year in the Under-23s playing centre half, we persuaded him in my second season when John Filan was with me that it was where his future lay. He was strong in the air, very strong in the tackle, he’s pretty quick and we felt that he was suited to centre half but he did take a lot of persuading to give it a go.
“But his own personal desire to be as good as he can be stands out a mile.
“You only need to see him play to know that he’s a very determined character.”
Lenihan has been back to his powerful best in his six Rovers outings since returning from injury, helping them to four wins and three clean sheets during that period.
His displays have shown just why Rovers were to so desperate to hold on to the Irishman, rejecting seven figure bids from Sheffield United last summer.
Lenihan will be eyeing Championship football with Rovers next term to boost his international hopes, with friendlies against France and USA on the horizon once the season has finished.
And Kinder, who spent seven years at Rovers between 1999 and 2006 before returning for a second spell between 2015 and 2017 following a spell with Carlisle United, says Lenihan deserves every possible success.
“I’d left for Carlisle when Darragh first came to the Academy but just before I left we were in the process of bringing him over,” Kinder added.
“He had a lot of problems with growing and with his back and didn’t play a lot of football during the two years of his YT.
“What he had was that mental toughness was that he was going to get through it and he was going to be a footballer.
“Even when he recovered and came back he was in the Under-21s when I came back and was still having little problems with injuries.
“Darragh never seemed to get an injury that kept him out for a couple of weeks, it was always long-term.
“It was down to growing and these things can happen when you’re young, but he had that toughness to get through it and deep down he always knew that he was going to be a professional footballer.
“When I came back he was fit again and he developed from there.”
Kinder oversaw an overhaul of the Rovers Under-23s set-up, admitting that Lenihan was something of a shining light in his age group.
“It was when I first came back, a bit of a mish-mash of an Under-23s squad full of a lot of people who shouldn’t really have been there.
“It took some sorting out but he was a bit of a shining light.
“When we got him on the pitch he wasn’t on the pitch long enough to progress quicker.
“He’s had a lot of stuff to put up with but hopefully that’s the end of it.”
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