WITH MARTIN O’Neill due to whittle down his Euro 2016 squad before next week’s deadline, a number of players will soon find out whether they’ll spend June in France or on holiday.
After five players dropped off the panel yesterday, a 29-strong team trained at an open session in Dublin this afternoon, while Kevin Doyle is due to play Colorado Rapids’ MLS game against Philedelphia Union on Saturday before linking up for the training camp at Fota Island.
Seven more will have to be cut in order to submit the final list to Uefa, which is due just after Ireland face Belarus at Turner’s Cross on 31 May.
Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick may be team-mates under Mick McCarthy at Ipswich Town, but the pair are vying for one of the striker’s positions.
Shane Long’s place is a certainty, while captain and all-time record goalscorer Robbie Keane will be brought his experience. Then there is influential Stoke City forward Jon Walters is often used as a winger and listed under ‘midfielders’ by Martin O’Neill.
That leaves Murphy, McGoldrick and Doyle battling it out for the remaining spots. And, speaking to the media this afternoon, the clubmates insisted they would be happy if the other one made the plane ahead of them.
“I’m good mates with Murph,” McGoldrick said. “If he went and I didn’t I’d be delighted for him and I’m sure it would be the other way around. We get on well on and off the pitch so what will be will be.
Murphy agreed: “Of course you can, why not (be happy for a friend)? If I’m not going and David’s going then I’ll support him 100% like I would any of the rest of the lads.”
Having started in the historic 1-0 win over Germany as well as both legs of Ireland’s play-off with Bosnia-Herzegovina, it is hard to see O’Neill leaving 33-year-old Murphy out for the trip to France.
The Waterford native, who has been doing extra fitness work after missing the last month of Ipswich’s season with a calf injury, isn’t counting his chickens just yet, however.
“What I’ve done has been and gone now and I think if you look throughout the season, there’s players that have got better and better during the season and I was out injured watching it,” he said.
I don’t think I’m guaranteed anything but I need to make sure that I show my fitness next week and do well if called upon and then it’s up to the manager on whether he thinks I should go or not.”
Despite his good record in front of goal at club level (37 goals in the last two seasons), Murphy has yet to score in 20 senior appearances in a green shirt since making his debut back in 2007 and he accepts that the drought is frustrating.
“A goal would be great, I’ve been waiting a long time for one of them!” he added. “Of course it would but I think, first and foremost, if I play any part that I do the basics right.
“If I’m only thinking about a goal and I’m not holding the ball up or fighting my corner and setting people up then I’m at nothing really.
“Once that part of the game is taken care of and I get a chance hopefully it will go in. It has not wanted to go in for me for awhile now but I think I just need to get the chances and hopefully I’ll take one.
“It’s frustrating but it’s part and parcel of football. There’s obviously a reason I’ve not scored but I think I’ve had some decent chances but the keeper’s saved it, or I’ve hit the post or something like that. You always think as a striker that you’re going to get a chance and you’ll score.
“You can’t dwell on it too much because if I had done that, I think my confidence would be shattered but I don’t think too much about that.”
Fellow Tractor Boy McGoldrick has endured fitness problems of his own this term and sat out three months between December and March with a hamstring tear. However, he is back feeling sharp again after returning to fitness and bagging three goals in the Championship.
“It’s massive for any player,” replied the twice-capped forward, when asked what it would mean to get the nod for the European championships. “Going to the Euros, representing your country. It’s massive for me and I’m sure it’s just as massive for Murph and all the other boys out there.
I believe in my own ability, go out and train with confidence and I’m not overawed by the players I’m playing with because I’m here for a reason.
“I haven’t just come here to make up a 30-man squad or whatever it is now, I’ve come to try and get into that 23.”
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