Ireland have a real shot at reaching World Cup, insists Doherty

Major tournament qualification remains the veteran full-back's top target

SURE TOUCH: Ireland's Matt Doherty gets a pass away under pressure from Bulgaria's Kiril Despodov in Sunday's play-off second leg at the Aviva Stadium. Pic: Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile

Matt Doherty was 26 when making his Ireland debut, 33 reaching his 50th cap this week, and has designs on breaking his tournament duck next summer.

Much of being on the margins is attributable to him competing with Séamus Coleman during his prime but Doherty has possession of the right-back and transatlantic trekking in his mind.

His long wait for international exposure robbed him of the Euro 2016 experience his fellow 1992-born crew such as Robbie Brady, Jeff Hendrick, and Shane Duffy enjoyed.

This next punt, starting in September, will likely be his last attempt at the World Cup and he reckons Ireland are well positioned to end their 24-year wait for participation on the global stage.

“There's not a huge amount to be fearful of in the qualifiers,” the Wolves regular said about facing off against Portugal, Hungary, and Armenia.

“We should go in there full of confidence, really believing in ourselves. Armenia lost heavily against Georgia this week so come on, like. We have a real shot at this.

“It’s about ensuring we get our points against the teams we're meant to get our points against. We've beaten Hungary at home in a friendly and it was scoreless before that in the away game.

“We also had Portugal in the last qualifiers. We drew 0-0 at home but despite losing 2-1 away, we were unbelievable in that game.

“We normally give a good account of ourselves so we'll be fine against Portugal.” 

 Major tournament qualification remains his top target.

“It’s the one thing you want to do the most,” Doherty said about the incentive of lifting the nation.

“I was speaking to Robbie Brady and John O’Shea and we said that the feeling of playing for your country is just hard to match.

“What it does to the country, the fan base, everything, it brings everyone together.

“I can only imagine if we get to the World Cup in America, everyone's family following them around, the support we'd have over there in the stadiums.

“Potentially this campaign could be my last one, so it's something I would really like to achieve.”