It is two years since Luca Connell was drafted in by Mick McCarthy to Ireland's summer camp in Portugal.
But in the words of Ireland under-21 boss Jim Crawford, Connell has had two "wasted years" since then as he has watched some of his underage peers get their chance under McCarthy's successor Mick McCarthy.
Celtic's Connell is with the under-21s on their 10-day training camp in Spain and, after Sunday's loss to Switzerland, will hope for more game time today against Australia's Olympic-bound under-23s.
The midfielder came on for Conor Coventry in the 71st minute against the Swiss in a game that saw Ryan Johansson, Oisin McEntee, Festy Ebosele and Lewis Richards all make the under-21s debuts, while Shane Flynn also made his bow at this level off the bench.
Others who will hope for involvement today are Bohs duo Andy Lyons and Ross Tierney, who travelled out to Marbella after their club's Premier League win over Waterford at the weekend, as well as the in-demand Sean Roughan of Lincoln City.
Connell arrived in Spain with some confidence restored after his loan spell with Queen's Park ended with a title-winning celebration and a goal in each of the club's last Scottish Division Two games.
“For the first-half of the season I wasn’t really doing much," said the 20-year-old.
"But as soon as I went on loan it gave me the chance to express myself and show what I can do.
"As a team we did that and we were successful in the end, so it was very good.”
But this camp is important for Connell, who has been told by Crawford that he needs to sort his Celtic situation out and get more regular football under his belt, probably through another loan spell.
“It’s just to get used to each other and the way we play for the qualifiers coming up," said the former Bolton starlet.
"It helps us out and it helps the coaches to get our tactics right for when it really does matter.
“It’s a new team and we're all still getting to know each other. It's important to get away, have a few games to get to know each other’s strengths and where you need to help people out."
