Cillian Sheridan is desperate to convince Neil Lennon that he can make the grade at Celtic.
The striker has played for Motherwell, Plymouth and St Johnstone as well as becoming a full internationalist since his last game for Celtic in January last year.
With the backing of Giovanni Trapattoni to draw on Sheridan is hoping to catch the eye of Lennon- who is expected to be confirmed as manager- in pre-season.
Looking ahead to the new season the striker said: “Ideally what I want to do is go back and play for Celtic. I want to play a bigger part, but it’s up to me to perform in training.
“It’s a big year for me. I’m back to where I was at this stage last season. I had a year left on my deal then too and I needed to get out and play.
“The only difference now is I’ve a couple of international caps. I am definitely more confident. I was only an Under-21 player before, but now I have full caps.
“I need to do well in pre-season. I know I’ll be under more pressure than ever, people will expect more from me.
“It’s a year since I’ve been at Celtic, but being away made me a better player. It’s been a good end to the season for me.
“It just shows if you play regularly people see you and give you a chance. You’ll never get picked for your country if you’re not playing for your club.”
Sheridan’s Celtic career has been a constant roller-coaster ever since he made his debut at Inverness Caley Thistle within six months of moving to Glasgow.
A wrist injury prevented him from building on that appearance with a hip injury writing off much of the 2007/2008 season as well.
Injuries to Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras gave Sheridan an unlikely chance the following autumn with the highlight being selected to play at home against Manchester United in the Champions League.
Following a disappointing substitute appearance in the disastrous defeat away to Aalborg his form took a dip with Gordon Strachan sending him out on loan to Motherwell where he scored just two goals.
The end of season internationals gave Sheridan the chance to play alongside Robbie Keane with the Irish skipper impressed by the new bhoy.
Keane said: “He is very strong in the air and I think he won every header that came his way when he came on for his full debut against Paraguay.
“He suits the way we sometimes play, we like to get the ball down and pass, but there is that occasion where you like to hit the long ball and maybe play off the main striker.
“Cillian fits into that role, no problem but he can also take the ball to feet and controls it. He’s a very useful addition to the Irish squad.”
Stay up to date with Video Celts on Twitter
He played football like a baby foal dodging cars on a motorway towards the end of his spell in the Celtic first team.
Never saw nothing in his loan spells to change that.
That’s very harsh lotw.
If he is good enough to get into the Ireland side he must have something going for him.
Celtic have been linked with most Irish internationalists over the last six months or so, if we have one already at the club he’s worth a close look.
Sheridan isn’t one for link up play and back to goal stuff, in the penalty box he comes alive and is a natral finisher.
He had half a season of youth football at Celtic, virtually no reserve career and only took football seriously at the age of 14.
Hopefully his loan spells have toughened him up and that he’ll get a chance at Celtic, he is more of a finisher than anyone else on the books at the moment other than Morten Rasmussen.
Maybe it’s harsh but when he was fired into the 1st team I feared that the boys chances of making it at any level in the game were going up in smoke. I thought GS was doing his bit for assisted suicide.
True, there was something just too raw and rough about him. Hopefully that has been refined but I really can’t see him having a career as a Celtic player.
I await to get proved wrong (and hopefully I will).