Mick McCarthy personally rang Aaron Connolly on Saturday to tell the teenager that he had been called up to the Irish senior squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Georgia and Switzerland.
"He was delighted," McCarthy told Virgin Media Sport Tonight, which airs at 11pm every Monday and Friday on Virgin Media One.
"He just said, 'Thanks', and I said, 'Well, you deserve it. You've done well today, scored your goals'.
"Then I was reminded, I had to ring him back and say, 'Don't tweet it' - we were trying to keep it under wraps.
"He's settled in, started chatting with the senior lads. He's no shrinking violet and you can see that when he's on the pitch, he has a personality. He has aggression, he wants to take people on, he plays like he means it.
"I want players like that. Being aggressive doesn't have to be going around kicking people. It's running aggressively, passing aggressively, tackling aggressively, heading it, being aggressive with the opposition, being aggressive with your own teammates, demanding the best out of each other and demanding high standards.
"That, for me, is being aggressive - it's not about going around hitting people."
McCarthy said that once his second term with Ireland ends next year, he will be looking for another management position. Last week, the 60-year-old was linked with the Stoke City job.
"Already the profile of this job [has helped]. There's jobs coming up in the league and my name has been mentioned, which is nonsense by the way - my only concern is the game here.
"I've come to this high profile job, we've been doing well, the lads well, we've got a good team spirit, we've got some good results and all of a sudden, you're back in the frame for other things.
"When this is finished, and please God, it's July 2020, I'll be looking for another job. Hopefully someone will be offering me one!"
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
