Luca Connell is committed to Ireland, says McCarthy

Luca Connell has told Mick McCarthy that he is committed to playing for Ireland and the manager has further revealed that but for a thigh injury ruling him out, the Liverpool-born Bolton Wanderers midfielder would have been in with a real chance of at least a cameo in the upcoming Euro 2020 qualifier against Gibraltar – an appearance which would have had the effect of securing his international future as an Ireland player.

Confirming he had been considering that possibility, McCarthy said yesterday: “Yes, yes, but because he has done well in training and not just to nail him down. No, not a chance. He impressed everyone in training.”

Before the 18-year-old was forced to pull out with a thigh injury, the manager had made a point of discussing the implications of a competitive appearance with him.

“I did, actually, yes. I asked him, ‘if I put you on for three minutes, in one of the games, somewhere down the line, would you be pissed off with me or do you want to play for Ireland?’ And he said, ‘I want to play for Ireland, that’s what I want to do’.

”I think that it would have been remiss of me not to ask him. It’s a kind of duty of care as well. He has just turned 18 and it would be easy for me to put him on the bench.

At the moment he is full of hype and all that and ‘I will play’ but he gets two minutes and that’s him done.

"And then he gets another opportunity he might have preferred. But he actually told me that’s what he wants to do. And I wanted to know if he wanted to do that, not me just doing that to him.”

Originally, U19 international Connell had been called up solely for the senior squad’s warm-up camp in the Algarve but the highly rated player, who has reportedly attracted the interest of a number of Premier League clubs, so impressed on and off the training pitch that, before injury struck, McCarthy had decided he was worth retaining in his final squad for the games against Denmark and Gibraltar.

”He was going to stay, yeah,” the manager confirmed. “I did say at one of the press conferences that it depends on whether he rips it up, and pretty much, he did, with his personality and his performances. He impressed everybody. He was a breath of fresh air around the place.”

Connell follows fellow injured players Alan Browne and Mark Travers out of the squad, with the latter’s absence eliminating the first choice cover for goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

“I don’t worry about it as there’s nothing I can do about it,” said McCarthy, speaking at the 2019 SPAR FAI Primary School 5s National Finals in the Aviva Stadium. “Darren has to train. I can’t just wrap him up in cotton wool until we play, he wouldn’t be ready to play. It’s a concern but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Even with the enforced absentees, McCarthy feels satisfied enough with preparations to give a glowing appraisal of not only the first-choice personnel who impressed against Georgia but also the range of options still available in his squad, as the players continue their build-up to the Euro qualifiers with a behind-closed-doors game against Stephen Kenny’s U21s at Abbotstown today.

“I’ve been impressed with Callum O’Dowda and Ronan Curtis this year playing for their clubs,” he said. “They know they deserve to be here and they are both good players. If I had to take one of them off and put one on, I know they will go on with a bit of authority. They’re here on merit.

”If I was to pick James (McClean) and Robbie (Brady) and I wanted to change and bring two new wide players on, would they be able to go in on merit and thinking they can change a game and not just going on to win a cap? They believe that about themselves and I think they’ve got the ability to do that.

“Josh Cullen, certainly, he’s really impressive, I have to be honest. He pretty much ran the show this morning, very good. Look we’re talking about the First Division as opposed to international football where we’re playing a renowned team in Denmark but I don’t think that would faze him at all. He’s technically good, he can get about the pitch, he’s very competitive, he passes it really well and he can look after the ball. There are options, yeah.”