Jamie McGrath was delighted to be back in the green jersey - but he admitted that his struggles at Wigan last year dented his confidence.
Now on loan at Dundee United, he spoke after his man of the match performance last night against Malta of his spell out of the international set-up.
“It can play on your mind. If you spend a few months in the cold, you’re with your thoughts on that,” he said.
“But personally I felt I didn’t fall out of form, any time I played, I thought I played well.
“So it was one of those ones where it wasn’t in my hands so I couldn’t really blame myself which was probably a positive.
“And I just had to stay positive and when the opportunity to move in the summer came it was something I wanted to do.”
Despite his absence from Ireland squads this year, he kept in touch with Kenny, his former boss at Dundalk.
“I knew I had to get out and play regular football. It’s been a tough year,” he said.
“My main goal in going out was getting back in here. I’ve been doing alright back in Scotland where I had done well before so thankfully Stephen rewarded me with a place and I wanted to show what I could do.”
Looking ahead to next March and the Euro 2024 qualifier against France, McGrath wants to be in the squad for that one.
“Definitely yeah, I’m going to have to improve performances at club level and hopefully stay injury free to have a chance because the squad is big,” he said.
“There are still a few bodies out so you can’t get comfortable. I have to get my club form up in terms of goals and assists and hopefully that will get me in March if I stay injury-free.”
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