Alan Browne is arguably Ireland’s unluckiest player in this qualifying campaign.
But he will be looking for a change in fortunes in tonight’s friendly clash against Bulgaria.
Back in March, Mick McCarthy was considering starting the Preston North End midfielder in the opening qualifier away to Gibraltar.
But the Corkman suffered an ankle injury in a club game against Middlesbrough and had to pull out.
Since then, Ireland have gone five games unbeaten in Euro qualifying with Glenn Whelan, Jeff Hendrick and Conor Hourihane the trusted midfielders of choice.
Browne will have to do something special to break them up and force his way in for the remaining three games of the campaign.
But he is set to land an audition against Bulgaria this evening.
"Alan Browne has impressed me actually this last trip,” said McCarthy yesterday. “It was a shame for him last time.
“He'd been carrying injuries from before, I don't think he was that confident and he ended up getting another knock and he had to go home.
“But he's impressed me in training. I've been really impressed with him. I was talking about him a lot last year because I think he got 12 goals.
“We've not had that many goals in this campaign so if you could add them from midfield it would be great.”
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