Jack Byrne staying away from transfer talk as he prepares for new season

Though a player of his quality will inevitably find himself repeatedly linked with a move back to England, Shamrock Rovers playmaker and Irish international Jack Byrne appears happy to be settling in for the long haul with the Hoops this season.

“It’s nice to go into a pre-season with a clear head and a fresh start where you can set goals and targets” he says. “Before, I might have been thinking I might not be here by the end of the window so that’s been good.”

Of course, the right offer could change all that, but right now Byrne's focus is purely on getting himself ready for the start of the 2020 League of Ireland season.

“You don’t know in football what’s going to happen,” he admits. “The President’s Cup against Dundalk and Bohs the week after, I’ve set my target for as being as fit as possible for those games. Anything could come up in between but that’s my focus, to get as fit as possible for those games.”

He claims he doesn’t actually know if any firm offers have been received for him.

"I don’t get involved with that,” he insists. “I leave that to the club and my agent. I just concentrate on the football because, if I’m not playing well or if I’m not fit enough, even if an offer did come up I wouldn’t be fit enough to go anyways.”

He also believes that playing in the domestic league shouldn’t be an impediment to his continued involvement with Mick McCarthy’s squad, after the Dubliner earned his first two senior caps in 2019.

“Last year kind of proves that,” he suggests. “If I’m at my best - and I have to be at my best because there are some unbelievable players in the squad - I think I’d give myself a chance. Hopefully I can put myself in his mind. But it’s out my control.

“The only thing that’s in my control is doing as well as I can when I’m on the pitch. I believe in myself and I back myself and I feel like I’m in a better place than when I was last year when I got called up.

“I think I am fitter and I am mentally a lot stronger so if he (McCarthy) is picking the squad in March, I think I back myself to give myself a chance, if I am at it. If I’m not at it, I won’t be in the squad no matter when the games are.”

Byrne is full of praise for how the Ireland manager and his staff have helped improve him as a player.

“I really appreciate Mick and Robbie Keane,” he says. “I never had a problem with Martin O’Neill; he was very good to me - he gave me my first call-up (in 2016) and Roy Keane was very good to me. I spoke to Roy Keane. It probably wasn’t Martin’s style of management to pull somebody (aside).

“I’m very grateful to Mick, Terry Connor and Robbie Keane for taking time out. Every time I leave an Ireland camp, they won’t send me away without giving me advice, telling me, ‘this is what you need to work on, this is what you need to do if you want to become a better player.’ Not just to play in their team but just to become a better player for myself.”

Meanwhile, Byrne is hoping for more good days with the Hoops after they crowned a memorable 2019 season by ending the club’s protracted FAI Cup drought.

“To be honest, you don’t want the season to end after that, and when it does end, you want it to start up pretty quick,” he says.

“After the Cup final, there was a big weight lifted off everyone’s shoulders to get the trophy. I was only there for a year but you could see the work that the manager and staff put in to get a squad ready to compete over the last two or three years. It was a brilliant day so hopefully we can have a few more.”