16 months after it emerged that Roy Keane had taken a look at Scott Hogan as a possible future Ireland international, Martin O'Neill announced on Monday that the Aston Villa striker has told him that he'd like to join the Ireland set-up.
At a press conference for the announcement of the Ireland squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Serbia next month, O'Neill, quoted by the Irish Sun, said that he has met 25-year-old.
I have met him and he’d like to come in.
I’m all on for chasing people but I need to see someone feeling ‘I want to come, I want to play, I want to try and make the grade at international level and play for us’.
O'Neill added that Hogan is currently in the process of acquiring an Irish passport and that making his debut in the two games next month is an outside chance but not an impossibility.
Strangely, the Ireland manager also appeared to suggest that Hogan is closer to making his Ireland debut than Seanie Maguire. That is despite Maguire, who officially joined Preston late last month from Cork City, being named in the 39-man provisional squad on Monday. O'Neill said he was 'in a better position' to make a judgment on Hogan than he is on Maguire.
Suggestions that Hogan, who has three Irish grandparents, could declare for Ireland first surfaced prior to Euro 2016 when the Salford-born player was on a scoring hot streak for Brentford. Hogan initially said that if Roy Keane, a childhood hero, came calling he would find it tough to turn him down. However, talk of him declaring for Ireland subsequently cooled. That was despite O'Neill admitting that he had made contact with the player's agent.
Hogan is a player who has fought through adversity in his career. After joining Brentford from Rochdale in summer 2014, he subsequently suffered two serious knee injuries which would prevent him from making any real impact until late in his second season at the club. He would score seven goals in seven games to end to 2015/16 and then went onto score 14 more in 25 appearances for the club the following season before Aston Villa came calling. He made the move to Villa Park in the January transfer window for a fee reported to be around £15 million.
O'Neill's announcement comes as a surprise but it is also a welcome one considering the deficit of striker options in the Ireland squad.
