Christy Pym ready to play the Stephen Kenny way if Ireland call comes

The Peterborough United keeper has been touted as a solution to Ireland's goalkeeping crisis

Despite playing for England at U20 level, Christy Pym of Peterborough United is dreaming of an Ireland call-up from Stephen Kenny. Picture: Getty Images

Christy Pym does not expect to be in Stephen Kenny’s Ireland squad tomorrow for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxemburg later this month. But Pym would relish the chance to play for Ireland in the future.

Rumours spread last weekend that Ireland boss Kenny saw Pym as on option to solve his goalkeeping injury crisis, but the first the Peterborough United keeper heard about the possibility of a call-up was through a social media account.

Pym said. “I got sent an article about the possibility of me playing for Ireland by the ‘Irishbootbible’ guy. I bought a pair of boots off of him before and he messaged me about it and to be fair, it was the first time I had heard of it. He sent me the article and asked, ‘is this true’? And, I was like, ‘you probably know more than me’.

“It’s just one of those things, I’m playing and doing my job and it’s nice to get that sort of recognition and it (getting a call-up) would be a real proud moment. If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t. I don’t think anything will happen before the upcoming fixtures but hopefully in the future.

“My family are very Irish, both on my Mom’s and Dad’s side. My Mom’s Dad was from Knock in Co Mayo and he was a very proud Irishman — he came across to England for work when he was about 20 years old.

It would be very proud for the family and something that I would be very interested in, but at the minute I just need to keep focusing on what I’m doing on the pitch and those acknowledgments will come, I guess.

The former Exeter keeper played for England at U20 level in 2014 and admits discussions had begun at that time about representing Ireland, but ultimately England showed greater interest.

“My call-up for England came along when, at the time, my previous agent and I were speaking to the Republic of Ireland and we were trying to push that.

“I got called into the office at Exeter and was told I’d been called up and my initial thoughts were, ‘I’m getting called up to the Republic of Ireland squad’, because at the time, Ireland were speaking to my agent.

“Ireland told my agent that they weren’t going to do anything because they were happy with the keepers that they had at that time. Obviously, the opportunity came along to represent England, my family lived in Exeter, so I thought that I would take that opportunity and see what would happen.“

Pym feels the way Peterborough play out from the back is similar to what Kenny wants from his goalkeepers and the 25-year-old would love to work with the former Dundalk manager and keepers like Darren Randolph and Caoimhín Kelleher.

“I’ll play out left and right foot and I think that’s been a big part of my game this year and last year as well.

“I speak to Jack Taylor who plays with Peterborough and he was with Stephen Kenny with the Irish U21s and has only said good things about Kenny. I played with Dara O’Shea at Exeter and he has only had good things to say.

“I’ve looked at the keepers in the setup and I would back myself to be good enough to be part of it. I’m always watching keepers at the highest level to try and learn off them. I look at Randolph and you can see what a great career he has had. He’s a very experienced goalkeeper, he’s done a great job for Ireland performance-wise.

“And then you’ve got Kelleher who is obviously young and come on the scene but every time he plays for Liverpool, he’s looked excellent. With the ball at his feet, he could be an outfielder.

I would love to learn off and put myself alongside them and see what happens. That’s my goal, I want to be at that level. I want to be at the level with them and I believe I’m good enough.