Stephen Kenny has reached out to James McCarthy and wants to bring the Crystal Palace midfielder back into the fold.
The midfielder, capped 41 times, hasn’t played for Ireland since the World Cup qualifying win over Moldova in 2016 - but broke his leg in that time while at Everton.
Fit again, he has been a regular in the Palace team since early December.
Yet before the lockdown - and when Ireland’s Euro playoff in Slovakia was still down for March 26 - ex-boss Mick McCarthy refused to guarantee McCarthy a role of any sort.
He was disappointed that the 29-year-old pulled out of the November games against Denmark and New Zealand to concentrate on his club form.
And the previous manager stressed that his namesake was behind Glenn Whelan, Jeff Hendrick and Conor Hourihane, regardless of availability.
Midfielder McCarthy wanted to nail down a place in the Palace team and has done so, averaging more successful tackles than any other Premier League rival this season.
In April, Kenny hailed McCarthy as a “really top player” and wanted to know why he hasn’t played for Ireland in so long.
Kenny said: “There are reasons why some players haven’t been playing and I’m not fully aware of them but we have to examine that.
“But he played 22 games for Palace this season which is really impressive after a tough time of it with injury at Everton.”
Crystal Palace restart their Premier League campaign away to Bournemouth tomorrow week with McCarthy eager to finish the season with a flourish.
Speaking to Sky Sports today, the Ireland international credited veteran Palace boss Roy Hodgson for revitalising his Premier League career.
“The gaffer has been great with me,” he said. “He didn’t throw me in straight away. He made sure I worked with the boys to get up to speed and then he gave me a chance.
“It’s brilliant to be playing again and I’m thankful to him for the faith he’s shown in me. Hopefully, I can keep repaying him.”
In the interview, McCarthy confirmed that Kenny phoned him and added that he hopes his club form is good enough to merit selection.
“I feel good and I’m ready to go when the season starts again,” he added. “We’ve got nine games left - nine big games - and we want to finish on a high.
“We were on a good run before the lockdown and, as a squad, we believe we can push on and make sure we’re looking up rather than down.”
Ireland’s schedule of nine games over September, October and November will become clearer next Wednesday after UEFA’s key ExCo meeting.
It will be the most significant UEFA summit in years with clarity given to club and international calendars.
League of Ireland clubs in Europe will discover what lies in store this summer for the lucrative Champions League and Europa League qualifiers.
A date for the rescheduled Euro 2020 playoff with Slovakia will also be provided while the existing Nations League fixtures could be rearranged.
The procedure for the World Cup 2022 qualifying draw will be explained next Thursday.
