Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny has said Andy Boyle's inclusion in the latest Republic of Ireland panel may have caught people by surprise.
Defender Boyle is one of two home-based players to be named in Martin O'Neill's provisional squad for the World Cup qualifier against Austria in Vienna on Saturday 12 November.
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While there has been a clamour for the Irish manager to include flying Lilywhites winger Daryl Horgan, not many had been championing the centre-half's cause.
Despite this, Kenny said: "Andy's been here for four seasons now and he's gotten better every year.
"He's been a terrific player - a real brilliant footballer, a defender who can really play."
Neither of them will look out of place
Boyle has been a consistent presence for Dundalk as they marched to another Premier Division title, while they have also made significant inroads in the Europa League.
"Andy is really under the radar. He doesn't court publicity. Every week he plays consistently.
"He never misses a game, he's never in the treatment room - he's always a model professional.
"In any of the European games he's been exceptional."
Kenny also dismissed claims that the inclusion of the pair amounts to 'tokenism' on the part of O'Neill and his assistant Roy Keane.
I think it isn't tokenism, it's based on merit. That's been very evident from displays in Europe
"There is that search for credibility within the league so I think European results change people's perspective.
"We have to accept that that seems to be the reality."
However, Kenny did express a note of caution by saying that while he would love to see both players make their full debuts, "sometimes these things take a bit of time."
While most domestic sides' seasons have come to an end, Dundalk's punishing run of fixtures will see them face Zenit St Petersburg in the Europa League on Thursday night before an FAI Cup final showdown against Cork City on Sunday.
This is followed by the final two Europa League group games against AZ Alkmaar and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Dundalk's European adventure has turned heads outside the Irish football community, and they will seek to continue that trend in Russia.
Zenit are top of Group D with full points from three games, but found themselves trailing to Dundalk when the sides meant in Tallaght last month.
"We were unlucky not to get anything out of that game – we were leading 1-0 and hit the post to go 2-0 up," Kenny said. "Those are the margins sometimes in football."
He feels they will draw from that performance on Thursday night.
"We don’t have an inferiority complex, we’re coming here knowing we are in second place in the group on merit and we want to try get a result."
