Mick McCarthy says the prospect of unleashing Aaron Connolly for the Republic of Ireland’s vital Euro 2020 qualifying double header is irresistible and too good to turn down.
The 19-year-old set pulses racing for Brighton at the weekend, netting twice on his full Premier League debut against Tottenham Hotspur.
That warranted an immediate call-up by the Ireland manager for Saturday’s trip to Georgia followed by the clash with Switzerland in Geneva a few days later.
McCarthy confirmed he will play 4-3-3 against Georgia and feels Connolly is well capable of delivering in any of the attacking positions, after ringing Under-21 boss Stephen Kenny to inform him of his decision.
“I have said all along, I don’t want to take players from his squad, but that is irresistible, it’s too good an opportunity to turn down. One of our 21s in the team, comes and scores in the Premier League and not take him, you’d have all thought I was completely potty, and you’d have been right, if I’d have left him with the 21s,” McCarthy said.
“He could play in any of those three roles, whether it be right. You have to be fairly flexible and fluid when you play in those positions, you cannot play in straight lines, so I don’t doubt that he could play in any one of them.
“I will do what I want to do, I will pick the team and you’ll see,” McCarthy continued. “There’s a chance he could thrive and if he does it’s ‘oh, we were telling him all along he should have picked him, should have been in the team before he even played against Tottenham’.
“He makes a b******s of it and ‘I can’t believe it, he’s a numpty, he should never have picked him’. That’s exactly where we are at.
“I will know a lot more about him when I see him here, if he comes and trains and he’s like ‘I shouldn’t be here’, and you can see it straight away, or he gets it, says ‘have a bit of that’. Then that will convince me.”
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