Have boots, will travel

IT’S JUST as well that Anthony Stokes is a boy who just loves to play football.

He may be living the dream but only because he’s willing to put the hours in. Tonight in Drogheda he will join Stoke’s Adam Rooney up front as the Irish U19s seek to get their European Championship elite qualifying phase off to a winning start against Bulgaria.

Two more games, against Germany and Hungary, will determine if Ireland will reach the finals in Austria in July but just as soon as his immediate duties with the U-19s are fulfilled, Stokes will be heading to the US as part of the senior Irish squad for the friendlies against Ecuador and Bolivia.