Doherty flying just as Coleman sucked into Everton woes

January feels like it was a sliding doors moment for Matt Doherty and Seamus Coleman.

For a long time the pair have been at the heart of a robust debate around who should play at right-back for the Republic of Ireland. Can they operate in the same XI? And if they can, how do you best use them?

Martin O'Neill, Mick McCarthy and Stephen Kenny have all had to field that question many times over the last few years but it's a debate that’s fizzled out since Kenny settled on a 3-4-2-1 formation and Coleman’s injuries opened the door for Doherty to get his run in that midfield four.

Overall, he’s taken his chance pretty well.

Doherty has 18 starts under Kenny compared to Coleman's seven. He was an important part of the mini resurgence towards the end of the qualification campaign, featuring in the wins against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg, the draw with Portugal plus the 4-0 friendly trouncing of Qatar.

Coleman’s Ireland future looks more likely to be as part of a central defensive three rather than wing-back, but the competition is hot: John Egan, Shane Duffy, Andrew Omobamidele, Dara O'Shea and Nathan Collins all offer competition in the short and long-term.

It's been a tough campaign for the 33-year-old.

Coleman is a very well liked and respected figurehead for club and country, captain of both and someone who has never shirked his responsibilities. But right now he's struggling in a team that's all at sea defensively.

Conversely Doherty is beginning to look like a man on a mission.

Monday night’s Premier League clash between Spurs and Everton offered the starkest evidence yet that both are in a very different moments, with Doherty making two of his side's five goals from right wing-back while Coleman looked exposed in a floundering