Martin O’Neill insists he will only chase players who are eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland if they are worth his efforts.
Reading midfielder Liam Kelly was called up by O’Neill for Ireland’s friendly against Turkey in March before deciding to pull out of the squad due to a “personal reason”.
The English-born 22-year-old qualifies to play for Ireland via his Irish grandparents and has represented the country at U-19 and U-21 level.
Declan Rice made his senior debut for Ireland in the same fixture and caught the eye with a commanding performance at the heart of the Irish midfield.
Rice could still switch his allegiances to England due to the Turkey fixture being a friendly and finds himself in a similar position to Kelly, who has also represented Ireland at youth level.
But O’Neill was clear in his intentions that he would not wait forever for a player to confirm their desire to play for Ireland.
“I think there has to be a genuine feeling that you want to play,” O’Neill told OTB’s Jamie Moore.
"If you get encouragement from a manager coming up and saying: please, will you come and play for us? Of course that’s good.
“But you can’t be calling him every single minute of the day. Players have to show some sort of want to play and a follow up.
“Lots of teams would have been after Ray Houghton – he was actually a very good player – who could have played for a lot of national teams. You have to be a good player for a start and if someone is going to improve your team then I think managers will chase players.
“If some players are not all that brilliant and is humming and awing about playing – I’m not so sure the chase is worth it. That’s my view.”
Written by James Hopper
Martin O’Neill was speaking at the launch of the 2018 Sports Direct FAI Summer School.
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