McGrath back in Baku after mix-up with cops

property that we were doing an interview on. We didn’t nearly get arrested, but it was a good story.”

So, how did they get away from the long arm of the law?

“We had to run!” the St Mirren ace joked.

“No, we just cleared it up. There was a n Englishspeaking policeman who came down.

“We were told to just move on to a different plot of land to do the interview.”

Dundalk’s defeat against Qarabag was an eye- opener for McGrath, who was just a couple of months shy of his 23rd birthday at the time.

“At home against Qarabag we should have beaten them, we missed at least two goals and I had a couple of sitters as well,” he said.

Level

“Going out there we got punished at that level so it does open your eyes when you play those big European games.

“If you are not on it, or give teams half an opening they will take it, it was my first experience of teams punishing you for mistakes.”

Big- spending Qarabag were favourites against Dundalk, and they ultimately progressed to the Europa League group stages that year.

However this time, with Ireland ranked 50th in the world compared to 117thplaced Azerbaijan, the ex expectation is that McGrath sh should end up on the winning sii side this time around.

But Saturday’s hosts claimed a draw during their visit to D Dublin last month.

And Mc Grath warned: “T “There is pressure in every game you play, you could see whenweplayedAndorrait’s not easy and we came through.

“You never have an easy game in football, no matter what level you play.

“We go in as favourites but it will be hard, we’ll have to do a lot of work this week to put things right.

“We saw in the last trip that it’s never a gimme, you never have a gimme, so we are going to have to work hard, train well and give ourselves the best chance of winning on Saturday.”

McGrath is aiming this weekend to win his fourth senior cap, having made his debut in the 4-1 win against

Andorra in June.

His most impressive performance to date came in the agonising late defeat to Portugal, when he provided the assist for John Egan’s opener.

Career

“It was definitely the highlight of my career so far,” said the Meathman.

“I kind of had a bit of an idea ( I was starting), but I probably got confirmation about an hour or two before kick- off that I was in.

“It is probably going to live long in the memory and it’s one I’m never going to forget.

“Obviously the result, up to the 90th minute it would have been one of the best in history, if we held onto that 1-0 win.

“It’s going to be the best night of my career until I retire.”

McGrath reckons Ireland will be better prepared for Saturday’s game against Azerbaijan than last month’s

— given the amount of work Stephen Kenny has packed in on the training ground this week.

“We have a full week’s training, which is kind of unusual,” he said.

“The last camp we had three games in quick succession, but we have a full week to work on things.

“Obviously we are going out there to try and win, and hopefully we can do that.”

He added: “We have a full week now and it’s going to be a clean slate for everyone to try and impress the gaffer.

“That’s going to be everyone’s goal this week — to train well and see where that takes you.

“If you are not training well you won’t give yourself the best chance ( to start on Saturday).

“So you have to give yourself the best chance.

“That’s all I’m focused on — training well and putting my best foot forward.”