McCann seeking reprieve

AFTER winning promotion to the Premier League with the Clarets in 2009 and taking the captaincy at the club this season, surely a senior Republic of Ireland cap is the next thing on Chris McCann’s wish list.

Representing his country has been quite a delicate subject ever since McCann left ahead of schedule during his first U21 call-up in 2007.

After being named on the bench against Bulgaria for the second of two games — the first was in Montenegro — he told manager Don Givens he no longer wanted to be involved.

The pair later settled their differences, but it was too late for the Plymouth product to make amends in that age group.

It remains to be seen whether the ramifications of a decision McCann made five years ago still extend to the senior set-up as plans are made for Euro 2012.

He has grown up since then.

So-much-so that Burnley boss Eddie Howe saw him as a natural leader and promoted him to skipper after offering him a two-year contract in the summer.

It is a role that McCann continues to grow into in a young Clarets team.

Although he has been playing professional football since he was 17, and has over 200 games under his belt, he is still only 24.

There is a lot of responsibility weighing on relatively young shoulders and he will be the first to admit it has had an impact on his performances at times.

But he refuses to hide and brings an energy to his game that can only have a positive impact on those around him.

He is a strong, box-to-box midfielder who is just as capable of breaking up play as he is of breaking into the opposition’s 18-yard area.

The Dubliner is an effective buffer for the back four. Equally, there are goals in his game. And he is versatile, having previously played at left-back for the Clarets, while in Saturday’s Championship win at Middlesbrough he played off a lone striker after injuries forced Howe into a second-half shake-up.

Does McCann regret what happened with the U21s?

Spending the best part of two seasons on the sidelines after surgery and extensive treatment on a bad knee injury sustained in 2009 has taught him life, and a career in football, is too short to worry about things you cannot change.

All he can do is affect his future chances.

And he will do his best.

“Hopefully I can put that behind me, McCann admitted. “There’s a World Cup coming up and it would be nice to be involved in stuff like that. I don’t think you want to go out of your career without playing international football.

“I look forward to hopefully get back playing well and force my way into the Republic of Ireland manager’s plans. It’s got to be an aim of mine, me pushing on. I want to play in the international side.”