Doherty happy to switch focus

Gary Doherty is determined to forget his Norwich blues by helping the Republic of Ireland take two steps towards their goal of reaching next summer’s World Cup finals.

After joining City for £1m (€1.5m) from Spurs last August, Doherty endured a miserable end to the season as he found himself cast aside by Canaries boss Nigel Worthington, playing just two minutes of first-team football in the final three months.

It is understood Worthington has placed Doherty back in the transfer shop window in the wake of the club’s relegation from the Barclays Premiership.

The 26-year-old centre-back, though, would prefer to focus on the task facing Ireland and their qualifying double-header at home to Israel on Saturday and in the Faroe Islands on Wednesday, rather than look across the water towards his problems with Norwich.

“I have not heard anything,” insisted Doherty when asked about to his situation.

“When you are over here you do not really know what is going on back home, so I am not really aware of anything, although I am not fussed to be honest.

“The manager took a decision to leave me out. It is one of those things in football. You are going to face situations like that, and it is how you react to it.

“I just want to represent my country right now, and that is what I am focused on, not my Norwich career.”

When pressed, though, Doherty could barely hide his displeasure at the way things transpired at Norwich, not least was their relegation from the Premiership, sealed on the final day by a 6-0 thrashing at Fulham.

“I am happy to be in the [Ireland] squad, but it is hard coming in when you have not had a good season,” added Doherty.

“I struggled towards the end. The team started playing well and scoring a lot of goals and we gave ourselves a chance of staying up.

“But the last game of the season was one of those things. We did not really turn up on the day.

“For me personally not being involved, it was hard. It was about ticking over fitness wise just in case I was called upon.

“Now it is up to me in training to prove I am here for a reason, and hopefully if I am called upon in the next two games then I can do a good job.”

Doherty was understandably relieved to get a run out in Sunday’s warm-up victory over Celtic, however, he can again expect to be on the bench against Israel, who grabbed an injury-time equaliser when the teams last met in Tel Aviv at the end of March.

“It was good to be out there and to get a game,” said Doherty, who insists he will be fit for the weekend despite jarring his knee in training yesterday.

“I think the Celtic game benefited all of us in terms of getting rid of the rustiness and getting us going again, and since then training has been really sharp.

“We know we face a tough game against Israel because they are a good team who are defensively strong, as they have shown when they have gone away because they have got some good results.

“But we are all confident and looking forward to it, particularly after playing well over there when we controlled the game.

“They might have scored late on, which was a blow for us, but I still think a draw was a good result.”

Doherty at least has the utility string to his bow, just as he proved at Parkhead after playing part of the game in defence and part up front, eventually setting up Robbie Keane for the late winner.

It is a role he enjoys for Ireland, and one he is happy to continue with, but then any sort of happy ending to a woeful season is Doherty’s aim.

“I just want the Ireland trip to go well for me and only then will I focus on returning to Norwich and starting again,” insisted Doherty.

“As to whether I play for Ireland, we will have to see how the games pan out. If we get an injury here or there then we will see what happens.

“I know if I am called upon again to play up front then I am happy to do that. It is something that has gone well for me, and it is something I enjoy doing.”