Celtic manager Martin O'Neill would consider letting Colin Healy stay out on loan to keep his World Cup dream of playing for the Republic of Ireland alive. The young midfielder has been allowed to link up with Coventry City on a short-term basis to get match fitness.
Healy has impressed during his loan spell however and prompted Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy to play him in their midweek friendly victory over Russia. Healy produced a man-of-the-match performance to catapult himself into the Republic's plans ahead of this summer's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea.
The Celtic boss is expecting Coventry to get back in touch with him about extending his loan and refused to rule that out. "He's played a few games for them now and has played pretty well. I would expect Jim Smith to give me a call at some stage about that, but we'll see how things are," O'Neill said.
"It's important for him to play regular football after the initial period. But we could do something on a day-to-day basis and I'll be looking at that when the time comes," O'Neill added.
O'Neill seems likely to give Coventry the go ahead as he believes Healy and the club will profit in the future. "Colin did very well and I am really pleased with what he has done," he added. "I spoke with him and thought it was a good opportunity to go out on loan which would be a big benefit for him. I'm also hoping that it will be a big benefit for Celtic in the long term."
"It's a massive bonus for him to get picked for the Republic of Ireland and winning man of the match so his confidence must be really high."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
