It can’t be the easiest of tasks trying to sound full of the joys about international friendlies at the end of a long, wearying club season, but Jason Knight managed to achieve the feat in Abbotstown on Tuesday where the Republic of Ireland squad trained ahead of Friday’s game against Senegal in Dublin and another away to Luxembourg next week.
“I could be in Albufeira,” the Bristol City captain smiled when it was put to him that sun, sea and sand might be a more attractive option than a training session on the outskirts of Blanchardstown at this time of year. “But there’s always time for holidays,” he said. “These caps and these opportunities are golden and I’m trying to grab them as much as I can. This is the dream, this is where I want to be.”
Little wonder he’s in good form. While City’s season ended in the misery of a 6-0 aggregate defeat by Sheffield United in the semi-finals of the playoffs for promotion to the Premier League, the 24-year-old Dubliner enjoyed an impressive campaign – one that earned him the club’s player of the year award, and every other gong they had to offer.
All of which has led to no end of chat about him attracting Premier League interest. He has nothing concrete to report on that front, but “like anyone else, I’m ambitious, I want to play in the in the top division, but I’m relaxed about it as well,” he said. “I’ve had a good season, I’m enjoying myself at Bristol.”
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Assistant manager John O’Shea, sitting beside him, saluted the midfielder. “He’s new school with old school and it’s a good school that he’s from,” he said. “I’m sure there are lots of people looking at him.”
By then, O’Shea had to bat off questions about decidedly more solid transfer speculation in the form of Caoimhín Kelleher’s later confirmed move from Liverpool to Brentford. “It’s not for us to to confirm anything,” he said, “he was obviously at a very good club ... IS at a very good club,” he corrected himself, with a grin.
“We’d love our players to be playing, it’s as simple as that,” he said of the prospect of Kelleher being a starter rather than an understudy from next season. “He’s proven the quality that he has every time he’s been asked to go in as the number one for Liverpool, and he’s shown that they haven’t missed Alisson when he has been injured. The whole of Europe and the whole of world has seen what Caoimhín can do. Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll get the benefit of it.”
Evan Ferguson is another member of the Irish squad who could do with pastures news after his fruitless loan spell at West Ham from Brighton. “No issues whatsoever,” said O’Shea of the 20-year-old’s frame of mind when he joined up with the squad. “You can’t sit and sulk about it, and Evan hasn’t.
“He was fantastic in training today. He showed real good strength, physicality, technical abilities that were never in doubt. He showed the type of player we know he is and hopefully he’ll get the chance to show that in the next couple of games as well. And hopefully there’ll be lots of good things to come.”
O’Shea also doffed his cap to the squad’s newcomers, Reims midfielder John Joe Patrick Finn, Leyton Orient goalkeeper Josh Keeley, Shamrock Rovers defender Josh Honohan and Killian Phillips, who spent the season just ended on loan from Crystal Palace at St Mirren.
“They’ve been impressive. Plenty of powerful running and good tackling, intensity, good characters. Josh Honohan has been brilliant. He had good battles with Festy Ebosele today, it’s really good to see that he’s able to compete and show what he’s all about. And that’s what we want. We want the players to come in and show that personality.”
Knight, meanwhile, talked of the progress made by the younger members of the squad, most of them blooded by Stephen Kenny.
“We’ve matured since we were brought us in, there’s probably seven, eight, nine, 10 of us who came in at the same time and now we have 20-plus caps. We want to do something with the national team, we want to get to the big tournaments, we want to be successful, all eyes are on the World Cup. But the performances have to back that up, we need to get the results as well.”
Asked what pain barrier he was prepared to cross to play for club and country, Knight was clear enough.
“If the leg isn’t off, I suppose.”
Albufeira can wait.
