FANTASTIC
SIX months ago, Graham Burke was an Ireland fan in Denmark watching Martin O’neill’s charges draw the first-leg of their World Cup play-off in Copenhagen.
Little did anyone realise at the time what was coming next. Little did Burke realise, too, what the future had in store for him.
With no caps dished out for yesterday’s 2-2 draw with Celtic as it was a testimonial for Scott Brown, Shamrock Rovers ace Burke won’t be kicking back thinking he has made it just yet.
But as first introductions to the senior set-up go, this was a good day for the former Aston Villa youth who had played a league game for the Hoops in Sligo the night before.
Burke was in Copenhagen with team-mates Luke Byrne, David Mcallister, Sean Boyd and some of Byrne’s pals and said last night: “I was sharing a dressing room with those players in Glasgow!
“It’s incredible for that to happen in six months. It shows what you can achieve.”
Burke came off the bench with 30 minutes to go and looked lively in the hole behind Preston North End strikers Seanie Maguire and newcomer Callum Robinson.
He didn’t have the look of a man who had played the night before.
Burke said: “After the game in Sligo, I went back to Dublin with my uncle and it was about getting food into me and rehydrating,
“I had the use of a machine to get my legs right. I flew out on Sunday morning at 10.00 and got to Celtic Park around 12.00.
“It was easy to get sleep on Saturday night as it was a long day with a tiring journey back from Sligo. I was in bed around 1.00am, up at 7.00am to get to Glasgow.
“But I had to pinch myself when I got to Parkhead, to think that the night before I was playing in Sligo and went on to play in front of 60,000,
“I identified with Celtic as a kid. I always watched them on TV and to go out there and play on that pitch is something I’ll cherish all my life, to be on the same pitch as Henrik Larsson.
Burke will be back on the Rovers training ground this morning ahead of tomorrow’s league game against St Patrick’s Athletic in Tallaght.
Whether he makes the cut for the friendlies against France in Paris next Monday or the June 2 clash with USA in Dublin remains to be seen.
Senior players like Shane Long and Shane Duffy will return when the squad reconvenes in Dublin on Thursday.
And that leaves the likes of Burke – who faces Bohemians in a Dublin derby on Friday – and ex-league of Ireland man Shaun Williams vulnerable.
Burke knows the score and said: “It’s going to take a lot for me to get back in – some great performances for my club but I’ve a taste for it now and that drives me on to look for more.
“I saw lads like Sean Maguire, Daryl Horgan and Andy Boyle go from the league to the Ireland squad, they showed if you do well in the league you can achieve things.
“It gives every player in the league, not just me, hope that rewards can come.”