FOUR years ago, Maidstone went bust and Gary Breen became available to any interested clubs. West Ham came in for him and Manchester United phoned him. Competing against this was the Gillingham manager Damien Richardson, who visited Breen's home in Camden. "What's your ambition?" asked Richardson at one point.

There was no pause. I want to captain Ireland," responded the self possessed 18 year old.

With that, Richardson dangled the bait of a possible Irish under 21 cap. That was enough. No money had been mentioned, but Breen was hooked. Gillingham would do for him. Richardson phoned Maurice Setters. "I told him England had kept an eye on Gary for their under 18s, but if he moved quickly he'd get Gary. To his credit, Sellers said: `I'll give him a cap in the next game'.

Sure enough, the following October, Richardson called Breen into his office and told him that he had the choice of an England under 18 or Irish under 21 cap. Breen thought about that choice again while relaxing one evening this week in the plush lobby of the Nuremore Hotel in Carrickmacross. It was no contest.

"I said you must be joking. There's only one. That's all I'd ever wanted to do," recalls Breen. "Nothing other than that. I know kids dream of playing in an FA Cup final. Mine was always to play for Ireland. I know people say it's like a cliche but that's always been the truth."

There were other considerations as well. He'd chosen his A levels above an apprenticeship at Charlton and so felt the need to be taken under Richardson's wing and play regular first team football - even in the Third Division. A clear, clinical decision.

With Breen, appearances can be a little deceptive. He still has a boyish look, and is an engaging lad; bright, chatty, good humoured. But he's also confident without being arrogant, a tough cookie in the dressing room who stands his corner and is very self assured. Breen is clearly someone who knows what he wants and has mapped out his career accordingly.

Tommy Dunne, a team mate when Breen made that under 21 debut in a 3-2 defeat away to Denmark in October 92, was particularly impressed by Breen in training. "I know we weren't encouraged to play too much, but you could still see he could play. He had what was needed for international football; quick, and he could play, and he had a good football brain as well. I had a few drinks with him that night and he struck me as an intelligent lad, a nice fella."

Breen remembers playing a one two early in the game and being shouted at by Setters, then it was probably the timely arrival of the McCarthy era.

Yet there has always been a sense of destiny with this story. He was steeped in football and in all things Irish. Though born in north London and reared in Camden, annual summer holidays were spent in Clare and Kerry, the native counties of it is parents, Noreen and Des, along with his sister Sasha. Six weeks of getting covered in mud and changing clothes four times a day. Great times.

His grandfather Paddy had played for Tottenham and won All Ireland medals with Kerry. "My dad's family had always played football. Ever since I was a kid I was always kicking a football about. I never seemed to be without one.

Surprisingly (and he admits, especially to his current Irish squad mates), he began it all as a striker with Westwood Boys, a team formed by neighbourhood friends in Camden. "We won everything north of the river, and then south as well."

A tumour in his spine stunted his career for a year and half in his early teens, after which he switched to centre half at Charlton Athletic. Schoolboy captain there, he followed his coach Barry Owen to Maidstone. "Just a stepping stone, nothing more, nothing less," he recalls, matter of factly.

He made his league debut at 17 against Wrexham, a week after the Welsh club had famously knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup. "We battered them and we drew 0-0. I always remember that because I'm an Arsenal supporter."

THEN came Gillingham, where he immediately made a big impression. Breen tends to do that, mind you, wherever he goes. "He was a little swine, well, a big one actually," laughs Richardson. "He was 18 and he had no fear of anyone, the opposition particularly. He'd elbow people, not in a nasty way, or bang into people as he ran past them, letting them know he was there. All the things I was trying to teach my players. This big fella was just doing it naturally. You couldn't get past him. He was quick and he was mobile and he read it well. He had the confidence to get on the ball and play football.

With a neat sense of symmetry, Richardson compares Breen to a Gillingham predecessor, Steve Bruce, now a team mate in the Birmingham defence, in terms of attitude. "He went straight into the team and was a gem to work with, a bit like Brucey. But he had a little extra quality. He was quicker than Brucey."

A "well balanced individual", Richardson attributes this to "his lovely family". It may also account for his self assurance. Being a skinny six footer, he came in for some slagging in the dressing room, but gave it back. While a respectful individual, he knows how to stand up for himself.

"Even from a manager, Gary won't take any rubbish. He'll have a lot to say for himself and if he thinks something's not right, he'll say it. He's perfect in every way to work with. He'll question the manager, he'll question anybody, which is something I always encourage anyway.

Sheepish or reticent, he is not. "No, not really, he agrees, smiling over just a hint of embarrassment. "That's probably what gets me into trouble at times. But it's not arrogance. It's just, like, sticking up for yourself really. You can easily get walked over in this game. I don't really let people take advantage of me.

"Obviously if I don't agree with what a manager is saying, I'll say it. It's as simple as that. But there's other times when you've got to bite your lip. There's also a time when you've got to just listen."

Besides, not all managers would share Richardson's notions of dressing room perestroika, and within four months of Breen joining Gillingham, Richardson was prematurely sacked. Breen concedes that his questioning nature may have been a contributory factor in a dreadful relationship with Richardson's successor but one, another Irishman, Mike Flanagan.

"I just did not get on with the manager at all, Mike Flanagan. Clash of personalities, big time. I just hated the Wan, and he hated me. That's the way it goes.

Because of that - Breen even ended up ink midfield - he felt he had lost a year, and so opted for another stepping stone, Peterborough. Next up came Birmingham and one Barry Fry, often lampooned for his hyperactive approach to the transfer market. In their League Cup run to the semi finals alone, Breen was one of 35 players used by Fry.

"After four or five days, I thought `what have I done here?' The players called it a circus. They'd all be running around singing circus tunes. There were all different acts. There was a man on stilts, and a marvellous juggling man. It was so funny. Barry had his own unique way, but it was successful."

Another factor in the move, as ever, was his Irish career. Breen had noted that Mick McCarthy had become the new manager and had vowed to give young players theirs chance. But he also knew that Peterborough was an unlikely international launching pad, so he needed a quick transfer rather than a more lucrative one when his Peterborough contract expired.

"I just had to go then. I lost out financially going there at the time," says Breen with a tinge of regret, turning away and perhaps thinking of wealthier Irish squad mates in the adjoining bar. He straightens up and quickly consoles himself. "But it's worked out better in an Irish sense."

THAT it has. A boyhood dream was duly fulfilled in front of a packed Lansdowne Road against Croatia. He looked up and saw his parents in the West Stand. The national anthem was played. For the first time in his life, Breen was as nervous as a kitten.

"My heart, I could feel it hurting, just coming out of my chest, he grabs his shirt in his right fist, reliving the moment. Alan McLoughlin turned to me and said: `Are you alright?' I went `Yeah' and he just said: `Settle down'."

"The first tackle, I don't know who it was, but I must have gone absolutely through him. I settled down a bit after that. I was ready to fight the world, I think.

Team mates too, if needs be. Barely five minutes into the game, a Croatian midfielder broke through and immediately afterwards the irreverent debutant turned on Jason McAteer and, as the saying goes, gave him a rollicking. He doesn't remember it, but concedes that it sounds like him, alright.

As ever, Breen made a big impression. McCarthy, players and cognoscenti alike, were all impressed. Comparisons are odious, but invariably some have been drawn with Dave O'Leary (leggy, deceptively quick) and Mark Lawrenson (composure on the ball and passing ability).

Lawrenson too, is suitably impressed: "He's coped admirably with everything. He has speed, height, reads the game well and is confident on the ball." One popular note concern about Breen, almost the only one, is his build. "He's a bit willowy, but I don't think that's a problem, because the days of a big, bad, burly centre half have gone.

Lawrenson, who himself didn't join Liver pool from Brighton until he was 23, approves of the 22 year old's carefully chosen career path, and learning curve. "All the time he's improved." One question mark he would have is Birmingham's employment of a 3-5-2 system, for Lawrenson believes an orthodox 4-4-2 would demand far more of him. Breen concedes the point, admitting that when Birmingham adopt the three man central defensive system, it can leave him with little to do.

However, everything about the current Irish set up, system included, seems tailor made for him. "I love it. It's just something that suits me. I was lucky to be around when this was introduced. I don't know whether I would have played that much under Jack, you know what I mean, when you'd have had your strong centre halves, going through people. The three at the back requires people to be mobile and confident on the ball and I enjoy it."

Weary of unfulfilled promises at club level, Breen and the younger brigade had taken McCarthy's assurances about giving them a fair crack of the whip with a pinch of salt. During the American tour they picked a team of absentees "and it looked the better team". But McCarthy has been true to his, word. "It makes you try that bit harder, because all the young lads have so much respect for him.

Now he finds himself as the pivot of the back three, with Paul McGrath, amongst others, not even in the squad. Paul McGrath? Gor, he's a hero, ain't he? Even now I hope no one holds it against me. But I'm sure he's still got a big part to play in getting Ireland to the World Cup finals in France".

Next step Iceland: nine points out of nine, the target since the summer. Anything less tomorrow and Breen feels they'll have fallen short. World Cup qualification lies in the hands and feet of this remodelled team, and Breen, the bright young thing, is the embodiment of it.

Ireland, and Breen are going places.