Goodwin calls on Kenny to pick his Irish stars
JIM GOODWIN has urged Republic of Ireland manager Stephen Kenny to consider calling up three of his St Mirren players to the struggling national squad.
The Waterford-born Saints boss feels Conor McCarthy, Jamie McGrath and Jake Doyle-Hayes should all be in the frame for recognition, with Ireland yet to achieve victory in 11 games under Kenny’s management.
Goodwin, capped once by Ireland in 2002, believes attacking midfielder McGrath would already have been picked had he been operating at a club perceived to be bigger than St Mirren.
And the 39-year-old argues that Ethan Erhahon has been similarly disregarded by the SFA in terms of a Scotland Under-21s cap.
Goodwin is determined to raise St Mirren’s profile after narrowly missing out on the top six, but is clear that his rising Irish stars have already done enough to merit potential call-ups.
‘Definitely,’ he said. ‘I don’t see why Conor McCarthy, Jamie McGrath and Jake Doyle-Hayes shouldn’t be at least in Kenny’s consideration when he’s drawing up his squad.
‘Stephen’s got a hard enough job on his hands as it is, with far too many ex-players from Ireland sticking the knife in at the moment. I’m certainly not going to do that.
‘But I would like Stephen and his staff to take our boys into consideration because Conor has had a fantastic season. McGrath has been outstanding, probably our outfield player of the year in a lot of peoples’ eyes.
‘When I see some of the players in the 24-man squad when it gets chosen, I do sometimes think: “Why aren’t a couple of my lads in there?”.
‘We’re playing in the Premiership, fighting for the top six. The boys have got to the semi-final of a national cup.
‘I’m seeing lads from the lower end of the Championship in England getting called up. It frustrates me. I’m seeing boys in the League of Ireland getting called up and, no disrespect to anyone, but I know the Scottish Premiership is a step up from the Irish top flight. ‘I’ll continue to bang the drum for my boys because I know how good they are and it would be a great reward for their efforts this year if they could get involved in the squad.’ Goodwin (below) feels McGrath, in particular, would help Kenny in his attempt to achieve results while altering Ireland’s style of play. ‘McGrath is a real creative type and that’s what Ireland are missing,’ he said. ‘The lack of goals is there for everyone to see — no wins in their last 11 games. ‘If you’re needing someone that can play the right pass and show a bit of composure in the final third, there’s not many better out there at the moment than Jamie McGrath. ‘Sometimes people look down their noses at St Mirren, not just the FAI but the SFA as well. Sometimes it’s about the badge you’re wearing. ‘If McGrath was playing for Aberdeen or Hibs and putting the performances in he has been, no doubt he would have been in the squad. ‘The fact it’s only little old St Mirren, maybe that goes against him. I want to change that perception of St Mirren.
‘Ethan Erhahon is another one, why is he not in the Scotland Under-21s squad? He’s playing week in, week out in the Premiership at just 19. He’s as quick and as strong as any other members I see in there.
‘Hopefully people will start to recognise the good, young talent we’ve got here who are doing extremely well and taking their club onto a different level.’
The Paisley side return to Hamilton for tomorrow’s Scottish Cup third-round tie, a fortnight after the concession of a late equaliser in Lanarkshire cost them a top-six place by the slenderest of margins.
‘When we look back on things — and we’ve still got a lot of football to be played, five league games and hopefully a good run in the Cup — everybody can see there has been progress made on the pitch,’ added Goodwin.
‘But, of course, there is still that element of disappointment that we didn’t achieve what we set out to do.
‘Full credit to St Johnstone, they kept going after a really shaky start for them. We just didn’t do enough in the end.
‘Hopefully, we’ll get seventh this year. If we do, that will be brilliant and it would be fantastic also if we could go on another good Cup run.’