Richie Towell has a Republic of Ireland dream in mind as he looks to add to his growing list of honours in Sunday’s Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium.
Cork City v Dundalk is live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday, kick-off 3.30pm. Coverage begins from 12.10pm.
The former Celtic man has been the outstanding player in the SSE Airtricity League this season, scoring 26 goals in all competitions from his midfield position.
Ahead of the Cup decider, which could see the Lilywhites emerge with a double, he told RTÉ Sport about the appetite he found after falling out of the Scottish game.
“I have such a hunger to push myself on week-in week-out that I didn’t have at Celtic. Getting let go from Celtic gave me the hunger to never have that feeling again. It wasn’t a nice feeling for me and my family. I came home and had no job so it was a tough period for me.
"I know that I probably will play in England or Scotland or at higher level at some stage if I want to continue to go on with my career and push myself on.
“But at the moment I am fully focused on what is in my own hands and where I am as a player. I know I have a lot to improve on. It’s something that I have worked tirelessly hard over the last couple of seasons to try and affect my game. It’s every little boy’s dream to play for their international team and I’m no different to any other boy.
“I always just try to concentrate on myself. I know how good I am. I don’t need other people to tell me how good I am even though it is nice, the little personal accolades. I know how hard I work week-in and week-out to do these things on the pitch so when they come off it is probably the just rewards.”
A crowd of up to 25,000 is expected at Lansdowne Road for an eagerly ancipated final between the top teams in the country.
Towell is determined to retain focus and bring the Cup back to Oriel Park.
“I think we would be favourites. Obviously we have won the league and won it by some distance. I think nobody will begrudge us that we are the best team in the league.
“But it counts for nothing if you don’t step up to the plate in the final. Cork are not going to give it to us easy.
“They will be trying everything in their power to take it away from us but we have to be big enough and strong enough to be able to adapt to situations on the pitch and play our natural game and not let the crowd and everything else around get in our way.
“If you get caught up in the emotions all of the time, then your natural game goes out of the window. ”
