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An Ireland hopeful is on fire in the Championship right now

With other Irish strikers not having the best of starts to the season, Scott Hogan is giving Martin O’Neill reason for optimism.

Brentford Football Club / YouTube

IT HASN’T BEEN the best of starts to the season for Irish strikers.

Shane Long has yet to score in six Southampton appearances, Daryl Murphy is not currently considered first choice for Newcastle and Jon Walters has struggled along with the rest of the Stoke team.

Moreover, especially with Robbie Keane recently announcing his international retirement, the Boys in Green appear to be lacking depth in the forward department.

However, one player who has made an encouraging opening to the campaign is Scott Hogan.

Just prior to the Euros, assistant boss Roy Keane watched Hogan, while O’Neill suggested he contemplated calling up the 24-year-old Brentford striker.

The player was born in Salford, but is eligible for Ireland through his grandparents, and Hogan has indicated in the past that he would be keen on playing for Martin O’Neill’s side, commenting: “Roy Keane was at Huddersfield on Saturday apparently and if Roy Keane rang me up, I couldn’t say no to Roy Keane. He is one of my heroes.”

And of late, Hogan has been staking a greater claim for a place in the squad. Following a slow start encompassing just one goal in his first five Championship matches, the Brentford star now has five goals in three games, including a hat-trick in the club’s 5-0 win against Preston on Saturday (see video above).

With Ireland not currently blessed with options in the forward department, it seems possible that Hogan – who has been compared to Leicester star Jamie Vardy – could be called up sooner rather than later, if not in the upcoming qualifiers against Moldova and Georgia, then perhaps in the friendly expected to be arranged for November against yet-to-be-confirmed opponents.

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