When Martin O'Neill walked into the Stadium of Light for the first time, the people of Derry raised their eyebrows, their glasses and their hopes.

Their 59-year-old boy was finally at the club he had loved as a kid on the streets he played `soccer'. He was one of the first to put the football pin on the world map for Derry.

And he is followed now by James McClean, the latest product from the Derry City club which has already produced Connor Sammon and David Forde for the English leagues.

Despite their close association, O'Neill insists he knew nothing of the winger from his town until he turned up with Steve Walford on that wet and windy Tuesday night in Hetton-le-Hole, a day after his arrival, and watched his gutsy performance against Manchester United's second string.

A few days later he threw him on against Blackburn Rovers and the rest is history. With the exception of the new faces from Swansea and Norwich, fewer players have made such an immediate and emphatic impact on the Barclays Premier League this season.

His direct style and energy, and commitment to his defensive duties, have won him deserved rare reviews, plaudits, a regular place and new contract from his manager, and early admiration from Sunderland fans.

Steve Bruce did sign him, with Niall Quinn's influence, and was probably protecting him by not throwing him into the team, and the wolves. But O'Neill could afford to take a gamble in his first game and it paid off. And the fans like him already, which is a major plus for a new Sunderland player.

His omission last week from the Republic of Ireland squad to face Czech Republic in a Dublin friendly at the end of the month will have raised a few eyebrows on Wearside, and in Derry. But most of Ireland's fans will not have been surprised by the names in and out of Giovanni Trapattoni's latest squad.

To sum it up. Here's a conversation with myself and an Irish colleague. CY: `I thought you said McClean would be in the squad?' IC: `I said I'd be surprised if he wasn't in it.' CY: `So were you surprised?' IC: `No.'

Just hours before Trapattoni met the media in Waterford, O'Neill had suggested, not for the first time, that the wily Italian could stay loyal to the squad who had helped Ireland qualify for their first tournament in a decade. And who should question the man whose incredible efforts have turned round the miserable fortunes of a country which had fallen to fourth rankings?

The Sunderland manager was right but Trapattoni is wrong. James McClean should be in the Ireland squad.

This is of course the coach who has won virtually every honour European football has to offer. He is in his 70s but still looks in his prime, and has an enthusiasm and more importantly, an aura, to get the best out of players.

And all this without barely speaking a word of the Queen's. Whether talking to the scribes, or his players, it's a combination of Italian, English, German, Irish and even Portuguese. We call it Trappish.

Think England had problems with Fabio Capello's limited English? You try sitting through a mind-blowing, and yet always amusing Trapattoni press conference and make a thousand-word back page for the Irish edition out of it.

But he is allowed to get things wrong and although his loyalty to the players who qualified for the Euro 2012 finals is to be admired, and expected, some of the back-up players cannot compete with the levels and intensity McClean has been reaching.

However, in Trapattoni's defence they do understand his tactics and methods and with this February friendly the last opportunity to see his squad, before he takes the final numbers to a May training camp in Italy, he clearly feels there is no time for experimentation.

But where is the harm in introducing such an obvious talent to the senior squad and the international environment? Trapattoni bases all his opinions on McClean on DVDs and second-hand advice so why not see the lad in the flesh? He may have his eye on the Euros, but surely there is a bigger picture and future?

It doesn't help that McClean is competing directly with the likes of Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff, Stephen Hunt, Stephen Ward and Kevin Foley for a place on the left, thus limiting his chances of participation in Poland anyway. But he could learn a trick of two being in their company for a few days in the north Dublin seaside hotel and training base.

Hunt's place is the one that could be there for the taking but Trapattoni has become attached to his unpredictability whereas McClean's lack of experience with a dozen top flight games to his name, makes him too unpredictable.

McClean's international clearance to play for the Republic came through from FIFA HQ less than 24 hours before Trapattoni named the squad. This is, putting it politely and politically, a sensitive issue.

Such deliberations were not an issue when O'Neill was playing for the North, as he pointed out last week. And understandably that was enough said.

It was even brought up in the House of Commons by an Ulster MP last week, and it is possible the FAI and Trapattoni did not want to thrust McClean into a ruthless environment in Dublin next week, when all he wants to do is play football for the team, yes team, of his choice.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, Irish players now have the right to choose which green shade of the border they prefer and so far the Republic are winning. Darron Gibson has made the senior squad and Shane Ferguson (we think) has signed up among others in the Under 21 squad. And the talent drain is hitting the smaller nation hard.

So McClean would walk into a Northern Ireland team but Trapattoni wants to wait and the fact is he will not be swayed by any hysteria and politicians, as Andy Reid and Stephen Ireland will testify. My only hope is that he is serious about using him and other young talent like Seamus Coleman for the next campaign.

Over the last few weeks I have been talking to people in Derry who helped James McClean fulfil his dream of playing in the Premier League - coming to a Daily Mail near you soon.

And what struck me is that the chairman, the scout, the teachers, the chairman, the managers, the coaches and former team-mates all say the only person who is truly responsible is teetotal McClean himself. And encouragingly, they all vow he will keep his feet on the ground.

But the first chapter of the James McClean story is not even finished yet. His time for country, and club, will come.

Colin Young