O’BRIEN INSISTS HE CAN SCORE
SIX forwards made the cut for Martin O’Neill’s final 23man squad and only one of them has scored a goal for the Republic of Ireland — Millwall’s Aiden O’Brien. It came on his senior debut in the 1-1 draw with Poland in September and the 25year-old, who grew up on Holloway Road in north London, not far from Arsenal’s old Highbury Stadium, is determined to lay another marker down for the position. A home start against Wales last month didn’t yield a similarly positive return but the affable O’Brien insists the place is up for grabs. ‘Whether you’re working in Lidl or whatever you are doing in life, you’re always going to have competition and all of us here want to play. At the same time, there’s no negative energy towards it. ‘Everyone thinks “yeah, maybe I can play”. That’s good, that’s healthy. It’s time for people to say, “yeah, this is my position, nobody is getting past me”. I feel like we’ve got that here. ‘I’m the type of player who can sniff a chance. If I miss one, it’s not going to dwell in my head because I know the next one is going in the net. All I ever think about is “hit that net, hit that net, hit that net”. That’s all I want to do.’ Preston duo Sean Maguire and Callum Robinson, Aston Villa’s Scott Hogan, Portsmouth’s Ronan Curtis and newcomer Michael Obafemi of Southampton (the only Premier League player among them) are in the mix but O’Brien is confident in his ability. And he has one up on his Ireland rivals with that solitary strike in Poland. ‘Now I want to set different goals,’ he added.