Luca Connell: ‘Robbie Keane asked us to strike the bar from 30 yards...I did it first time’

Deep into this summer like no other for in-demand Luca Connell, the green of Ireland rather than Celtic constitutes his main attraction. The 18-year-old Liverpudlian was the baby of Mick McCarthy’s squad at the May training camp in Portugal, propelled into the senior ranks following a breakthrough season in the Championship for Bolton Wanderers.

A very real prospect of his elevation being crowned with a full cap during the double-header against Denmark and Gibraltar was thwarted by an untimely thigh injury. Any game-time on the pitch in the Euro 2020 qualifiers would have finally mothballed fears of him emulating Jack Grealish and Declan Rice by defecting to his homeland.