After becoming Cambuur's youngest ever Eredivisie scorer back in December, Jack Byrne continued his quest to drag the Dutch side to a somewhat miraculous escape from relegation with an 84th minute winner against Zwolle on Saturday.
If you haven't bought into the hype yet, then it's about time to start doing just that. For all the doomsday predictions that were going around during Ireland's pursuit of Jack Grealish, and with good reason at time, it's worth looking to Byrne for what that future really can be.
It must be said that it's going to be very difficult when he heads back to Man City at the end of the season. He's one of a plethora of talented young players that City have waiting to break into the first team and although Pep Guardiola has never been afraid of giving youth a chance, catching the eye of the former Barca boss will be no easy task.
In an ideal world, Byrne's talent will shine through and he'll get a chance under Guardiola. However, his current loan spell has shown how much of an opportunity he has to carve out a place in Ireland's midfield even if his future is not at the Etihad Stadium.
As far as loan moves go, Byrne's spell in Holland has been nothing short of exemplary in terms of giving the young Dubliner exactly what he needs going forward. Cambuur have, at times, been awful. Their only chance of escaping relegation is to ensure they stay clear of Graafschap at the bottom of the league and subsequently get through a relegation play-off.
After 25 games they have the grand total of 16 points but it must be said that they've been a lot better than the stats might show and Byrne in particular has been at the forefront of that. The winter break came at the worst possible time for them. The 4-1 win over Excelsior was an undoubted high point but, Christmas came and the results returned to normal after the resumption of the league at the end of January.
However, Saturday's 1-0 over Zwolle has lifted them off the bottom of the table and Byrne's performances haven't gone unnoticed.
Players of the week over in Holland ???? only 19 I'm just getting started #Hardwork !!⚽️
The reality of the situation is that Byrne will have to wait for his chance with Ireland. There's too many players ahead of him at this moment in time to make a push for the squad ahead of Euro 2016, however, in an ideal world, we'd love to see Byrne being given a chance at some stage during the pre-tournament friendlies.
Alan Judge and Harry Arter are already guaranteed a significant chunk of action against Switzerland and Slovakia so it's unlikely there'll be enough space to get Byrne in there. However, judging by his incredibly mature performances for Cambuur, we're willing to put our necks on the line and state that if this summer is too soon, we'll be pinning a lot of our midfield hopes on the 19 year old Dubliner within the next year or two.
