Stephen Kenny reckons he has a “potent” attacking force now that Evan Ferguson has played his way into contention for the upcoming games against Latvia and France.
The Brighton teenager has been added to a youthful striking line-up that is packed with pace.
Kenny was asked on Thursday - as he named his squad for the double-header - how tempting it would be to start the 18-year-old.
READ MORE: Stephen Kenny's 26-man squad for Latvia and France games named
“We will have to see. You can’t pick your team too early in these circumstances,” he replied.
“There are games at the weekend, as we have seen with Adam Idah (picking up an injury) last night.
“He has another game on Sunday (against Grimsby in the FA Cup), and then it’s a quick turnaround to Wednesday, the Latvia game.
“We are hoping that he comes through the game on Sunday and he can play a significant part in the window.
“We need starters and players to come on, with the level of intensity of the French game.”
Kenny hailed the Meathman’s progress since his senior breakthrough in the friendlies against Norway and Malta late last year.
He has been on the scoresheet four times for Brighton since New Year’s Eve.
Kenny - also addressing his other attacking options - said: “He's had a rapid rise, really, obviously from briefly playing with Bohemians as a 14-year-old to playing regularly now in the Premier League.
“So, even from our last window, he's made a rapid rise.
“The characteristics of our forward players are completely different to what they were two years ago.
“All of a sudden, we've got players like Chiedozie Ogbene, Michael Obafemi, Adam Idah, Evan Ferguson, Troy Parrott, players who are direct, quick and can play different ways, and obviously Will Keane and Mikey Johnston, who's a dribbler, so now we've got different qualities in our attack.
“We've got quite potent attacking players now, I feel, and a lot of potential there, but some of them have obviously had injuries and that's been an issue as well.
“Some of them are coming back from injury – Michael and Troy, for example - and now Adam, so those are challenges as well. They've not all had straightforward situations.
“But to answer your original question, Evan has been very, very good and he's made it look easy at times.
“He's come in and he makes good decisions, he always seems to make good decisions.
“He has a variety of attributes. He leads the line well and he links the play well and he has the capacity to score goals, so those are good attributes.”
As for some of his squad selection conundrums, Kenny spoke about the addition of Celtic winger Mikey Johnston, currently on-loan to Portuguese side Vitoria.
And he gave his reasons for excluding Robbie Brady and Ryan Manning.
“Mikey is someone I've obviously been aware of for a long time,” he said.
“For him to go to Portugal was a brave step in a way. It's a tough league, a lot of good teams in it and they're challenging for a European place.
“He has different characteristics that will add to the squad, I feel. We mustn't expect a major impact in this camp, but it's a good introduction for him.”
When quizzed about Manning, he replied that the Swansea wing-back was very much in his thoughts ahead of nailing down a 26-strong squad.
“We have several players in that position,” he said. “It's very tight, a lot of players playing in the Championship, but I think just Callum O'Dowda's form...
“Callum, in my opinion, probably has been Cardiff's Player of the Year this year and I think he offers us something different as well.
“Callum is quick and dribbles at pace and he's very direct, a different type of player.
“But Ryan is an excellent player, there's no doubt, and offers different qualities, coming on the inside and playing, and a really good footballer.”
O’Dowda’s form was also a factor in Brady’s omission.
“Robbie had a really good spell earlier in the season. I thought he was absolutely excellent for Preston earlier in the season,” said Kenny
“In recent weeks, he's not been in the team – although he did play midweek – and we've been at a lot of Preston's game, we've got a lot of players, so these are the fine margins, you know.”
Adam Idah was named in the squad, despite picking up an injury for Norwich on Wednesday night.
“He obviously got a foot injury and he had to leave in the first half last night in the game, so he left the ground on crutches and will have a scan tomorrow,” said Kenny.
“He had to travel back to Norwich and have a scan tomorrow, so we're not really sure.
“He asked not to be ruled out and wait and see, so we'll have to wait and see how he is.”
Kenny, meanwhile, acknowledged the size of the task facing Ireland in the Euro qualifiers.
“When we got the draw initially, we understood the magnitude of it, France, Holland, Greece and Gibraltar in the group,” he said.
“We understand the difficulty with that, but it also provides an opportunity and it's quite exciting to have France coming here.
“France have been the best team in the world over a period now because they won the World Cup in 2018 and then obviously lost recently on penalties to win consecutive World Cups.
“They've been a phenomenal team, so them coming here to Dublin, we view it as an opportunity also.
“We've been building our own team for the last couple of years for this campaign and we're excited by that.
“We understand that not many neutrals would give us a chance, really, against France because of their pedigree and because of what they've achieved, and we're fine with that.
“But we are capable of putting in a strong performance against anyone, really, we've shown that as well.”
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