DARYL HORGAN WILL continue to strive to reach the next level, despite already experiencing what has been a somewhat meteoric rise.
Five months are winning his third SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title with Dundalk, Horgan is now a full Irish international and a regular starter for a team chasing promotion to the Premier League.
The Galway-born winger, who debuted for Championship club Preston North End against Arsenal in January, came off the bench in Ireland’s 1-0 defeat to Iceland last night, replacing Johnny Hayes in the 64th minute to make his Republic of Ireland debut.
It was Horgan’s first appearance at the Aviva Stadium since Dundalk’s defeat to Cork City in last November’s FAI Cup final. The 24-year-old’s career continues to move in the right direction, but he believes there’s still more to come.
“You have to aim for that,” he said after last night’s debut. “That has to be the plan. You can’t rest on your laurels and say ‘I’m happy at any level’. The top players never do that. Obviously I’m not one of the top players but you have to strive to be as good as you possibly can be and that’s my aim.
“I want to play at the highest level I can, whatever that might be. I suppose we’ll find out at the end of my career. I’m enjoying it now and I’m going to keep working hard.”
Horgan was singled out for praise on a night of few positives for Martin O’Neill’s side, but he’s leaving the assessment of his performance in the hands of the Ireland manager.
“I’m happy enough. The manager will decide if he’s happy or not. What he says goes,” said the former Salthill Devon, Sligo Rovers and Cork City winger.
“I tried to get on the ball, tried to do things, which is what I try to do in every game. A couple of crosses came off but unfortunately the ball didn’t end up in the back of the net. But all in all it was decent.”
Horgan is keen to be involved when the Ireland squad next assembles. That will be in June for friendlies against Mexico and Uruguay — and a crucial qualifier at home to Austria for next year’s World Cup in Russia.
“Hopefully I can stay in the team, stay in the squad, and hopefully we can qualify for Russia. If I can play any kind of part in that it would be special,” Horgan said.
He added: “It was brilliant just to make my debut. I suppose the only bad part of it was the result. It’s disappointing that it went that way. But you get very, very few opportunities to walk out at the Aviva and to do that in an Irish jersey was fantastic.”
