Martin O'Neill's provisional Ireland squad for the next set of Euro 2016 qualifiers features three uncapped players, and one of those is Bournemouth midfielder Eunan O'Kane.
The 25-year-old Derry man, who started his youth career at Everton, was in action for his current club Bournemouth against Liverpool last night.
He was on Off The Ball tonight and after speaking about his performance in his Premier League debut, he revealed why playing at Anfield meant a lot to him.
"On a personal level, it was a very good experience. As a kid I was a Liverpool fan, so it's probably been a dream to play there since I was a very young boy, so to be making my Premier League debut there and playing against some of the players that I did last night was a great honour to do and hopefully I'll do a lot more in the future," he said.
O'Kane said he only found out that he was in the Ireland squad when he got a congratulatory text from Bournemouth and now international colleague Harry Arter.
His journey to the point saw him let go by Everton in 2009 before playing for Northern Irish club Coleraine and then newly promoted Premier League side Bournemouth.
Eunan O'Kane with Bournemouth (Andrew Matthews / PA Archive/PA Images)
O'Kane said his belief was never harmed by the Toffees' decision to release him at 19.
"The main reason was they didn't think I was going to be up to it physically. I ain't too big now but I was even smaller then and at the time they made a decision that they thought was right but I don't think at any stage I believed them in what they were saying. As you say, I've taken the scenic route to get back into making a Premier League appearance," he said.
Having played for Northern Ireland from U16 to U21 level, he spoke about the reasons behind his switch to the Republic in 2011 and even said that there had been a small attempt made to try and entice him back to the Northern setup at a recent charity game between a Derry City XI and a Northern Ireland XI.
"On the day of the charity game, there was a little bit of a mention of it but it was just laughed off. I think [Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill] knew I wouldn't make a decision to change back and I think it was a little bit tongue-in-cheek," said O'Kane.
Listen to the full interview on the Football Show podcast.
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