David McGoldrick joined up with the Ireland squad tonight to bolster the attack for Sunday’s clash with Finland.
The Sheffield United star and recently-crowned FAI Senior ‘Player of the Year’ missed Thursday’s 1-1 draw in Bulgaria.
That was planned because McGoldrick has struggled with a foot injury since the end of the Premier League season.
But Ireland boss Stephen Kenny was always hopeful that McGoldrick would recover in time to push for selection against the Finns.
He has already earmarked the Blades ace for a leading role in implementing his blueprint for this team.
But Kenny must assess the 32-year-old’s fitness when the squad returns to the training ground at FAI headquarters on Saturday morning.
If he is up to speed, McGoldrick will be vying for a starting role with Norwich’s Adam Idah - who made his debut on Thursday - and Southampton’s Shane Long.
There are no fresh injury concerns following that Sofia trip and Kenny has a full squad to pick from going into his first home match in charge.
But McGoldrick is champing at the bit to work with Kenny and wants to repay the faith already shown in him after a series of productive lockdown talks.
When McGoldrick accepted his FAI award last month, he said: “I’ve got the height of respect for him.
“We played a friendly against his Under-21s last summer and I was really impressed with how they played.
“He has some really good ideas. He has been positive about me and I think we’ve some great talent and some great senior boys.
“He wants to change it and go a bit more attacking. That would be music to my ears. Every player wants to play in an attacking team.”
McGoldrick added; “We’ve got the players to do it, so I don’t see why not.
“We didn’t score lots of goals during the campaign, but we definitely have the talent to do that. But you can’t just be freestyling out there, you have to be solid.”
