Mikey Johnston: I want to get people off their seats. Ireland hasn't had a lot of that recently

Ireland can benefit from the man belatedly flourishing in the moment when they face Greece in Athens on Friday.

JINKY JOHNSTON: Mikey Johnston during a Republic of Ireland training session at Calista Sports Centre in Antalya, Turkey. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

While the FAI’s call to action in their plea for state funding revolves around the right time, Mikey Johnston’s international exposure is long overdue.

He made his Celtic debut when 18 but now 24 he’s only tallied 39 minutes of senior action with Ireland. That’s down to a combination of injuries and mulling over whether he’d stick with Scotland or jump ship.

That dilemma was resolved over the past year and, having made two cameos off the bench in the March double-header against Latvia and France, the cavity created by Chiedozie Ogbene’s injury is there for the taking.

Stephen Kenny requires attacking potency to unlock a Greece defence marshalled by former Arsenal centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos and minded behind by the last line in Benfica goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.

Johnston, on the back of a stellar season in Portugal spearheading Vitória Guimarães’s march to European qualification, is putting his hand up for selection and isn’t shy about outlining the justification.

“I’m definitely not fazed,” he stressed, speaking as Ireland flew from the Antalya location of their nine-day training camp to Athens.

Republic of Ireland Squad Training.

“I just want to make an impact and get people off their seats. That’s something Ireland probably hasn't had a lot of recently. I want to do that and believe I can bring it to the team. I am probably a player who thinks ‘dribble first’. I probably shouldn’t at times, but that is what I do.”

No surprise then that it’s Aiden McGeady he chooses over Ray Houghton is his favourite Irish Glaswegian from yesteryear. Rare though the occasions the twinkled-toed winger lived up to his reputation in an Ireland jersey, it was his pirouette and curled 2014 finish in Georgia that kickstarted the team’s ultimately successful tilt to reach the European Championships.

Johnston is unapologetic for being a throwback, a flanker with an instinct to beat his man rather than play safe. No wonder the master of that trade, Damien Duff, was encouraging one of his protégés to join the Irish cause when they worked together at Celtic.

“I remember that,” he says with a smile when the recent revelation by then Celtic manager Neil Lennon was relayed. “But that was a stage when I wasn’t ready. I was struggling with my body, having had a few surgeries, so it wasn’t the time to decide.”

He firstly needed to show the best version of himself. Johnston attributes his spate of injuries, varied through medial ligaments, hamstring and calf problems, to excessive workload during the embryonic stage of his Celtic career.

His observation chimes with Alex Ferguson’s approach to rotation at Manchester United after several of his golden Aberdeen generation succumbed to burnout.

“At Celtic, we had games Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday,” he explained about his perils of absorbing the schedule every graduate craves. “My body, as a young lad, wasn’t used to it and it began breaking down.

“I tried to stay level-headed about it. I felt I was kicking on my career and would get little setbacks but they happened too often. Maybe I felt a little hard done by at times, but my body was in a bad way. There was one season when it was really bad.”

Time to leave the goldfish bowl of the one habitat he’d known since the age of eight. Ange Postecoglou concurred, stating last summer: “There's definitely a talented footballer there but sometimes you just need a different environment to help that happen.”

Vitória Guimarães doesn’t drop off the tongue as a Portuguese heavyweight but they face plenty of them for the loan offer to tempt.

“Getting out of the UK was good for me and the Primeira Liga is the sixth best in Europe,” he reasoned “The training wasn’t as intense; it was more tactical and technical rather than fitness and that has helped me.

“I feel like I’ve learned so much over the season. When you play for Celtic, you’ve got possession all the time and you’re attacking. With Vitória, we had the ball a lot too but not when you’re against the European qualified teams of Porto, Benfica, Sporting and Braga.

"There were eight games where you were testing yourself against them and that was an experience that stood to me.”

Returning to Portugal is one avenue available once these qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar conclude but the newer, fitter, and robust Johnston fancies another crack at Celtic under new management. A fresh start but likely a familiar face.

“Brendan Rodgers gave me my debut and every player will love the guy who gave them their debut aren’t they?,” he says with a grin about the favourite for the vacancy. “You only get one career and I want to make the most of it.”

Ireland can benefit too from the man belatedly flourishing in the moment.