Dundalk winger Daryl Horgan has said the clamour for his inclusion in the Irish squad shows the progress made by the League of Ireland.
Speaking after a man of the match performance in his side's 3-1 win over Derry City at Oriel Park, Horgan said he was "a small bit disappointed" not to be included in the squad.
While disappointed, Horgan added that "at the same time it shows how far the league has come that League of Ireland players are being pushed for it.
"It’s brilliant and I suppose the European exploits are helping."
Irish manager Martin O'Neill named a provisional 33-man squad for the Republic of Ireland's World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Moldova, but the Galway winger was not one of that 33.
However, while Dundalk's Europa League exploits are helping Horgan increase his selection prospects, they also appear to have cost him this time around.
Announcing his squad at a press conference this morning, O'Neill said that had it not been for Dundalk's hectic fixture list Horgan "would have certainly made the provisional squad, without a doubt."
No surprise as Daryl Horgan is named Man of the Match after his two assists helped Dundalk to a 3-1 win https://t.co/mz9WEAVkQM
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) September 23, 2016
Horgan produced another fine performance in the Lilywhites comeback win at Oriel Park as they kept their title defence on track.
Things didn't go entirely to plan however as the visitors took the lead through Lukas Schubert despite a strong start from Dundalk.
"I thought we started quite well, we were on the front foot pressing up and kind of just caught a sucker punch," Horgan said.
The champions recovered well though, with Horgan setting up John Mountney for the leveller before Brian Gartland put them ahead from a Horgan corner after just 16 minutes.
"[It was] Brilliant to get the goals back straight off the bat. Everyone put in an extra shift for those 20 minutes," the Galway man said.
"It was a really good performance right through the team.
"I thought we played well on Tuesday [1-1 draw v Shamrock Rovers] but maybe the goal’s didn’t come but today there was a real will to win, a lot of energy and a great performance."
