Former Celtic striker Daryl Murphy is hoping to lead the line for Ireland against Poland on Sunday.
The 32-year-old is the leading league scorer in England- ahead of Harry Kane and Diego Costa- with Ipswich pushing hard for an automatic promotion place.
Martin O’Neill has plenty of striking options to chose from including Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Jonathan Walters, Kevin Doyle and Anthony Stokes but on form Murphy is hoping that he can earn a place against the Poles.
“Confidence is high from the season so far, we’re doing well at club level and hopefully I can take that on to international level,” the striker said.
“They (Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane) have been to watch me and know what I can do but it’s up to the manager.
“If I do well during the week in training and catch his eye, who knows? You hope that you’re going to play at some stage, even a start would be great, but I still have competition from players here.
“I’m under no illusions that just because I’m scoring goals I’m going to play. We’ve got some very good players here that play at a higher level than I do.”
Keane was left on the bench when Ireland lost 1-0 to Scotland but despite being based in the MLS for the last three years O’Neill knows that the LA Galaxy man is his most reliable striking option.
“He considered his Premier League days to be over and maybe his Republic of Ireland career as well,” the Irish boss said of his captain. “But then he said he wanted to carry on playing for his country and since I have been in this job and watching him training, his enthusiasm is there is abundance.
“He is not just doing this to put on a show for myself or anyone else, I believe he genuinely has a desire to continue playing for Ireland and his performances show that his passion to play is as strong as ever.
“Can Robbie play up front on his own at the age of 34? It might even be difficult for a 28-year-old Robbie to play that role and as the years go on it gets harder, but he still has so much to offer, he really does.
“Look at the list of players in the squad there and the number 65 next to Robbie’s name in his goal tally column says all you need to know. To score that many goals is remarkable and until we find someone who can step up and take that role in the side, Robbie has a big role to play for us.”
