Martin O'Neill said calling Sean Maguire up to his panel for the crunch World Cup qualifier against Austria would be "a really tough ask" for the Kilkenny man, but the Republic of Ireland boss admitted he's been hugely impressed by the striker's progression.
Maguire will move to Preston North End at the end of July from Cork City after his blistering form for the Leesiders caught the eye of the Championship club.
O'Neill was in the stands to see the 23-year-old's hat-trick against Dundalk on Friday night and, though an Ireland call-up has yet to materialise for Maguire, it may not be too far away.
"I can consider a lot of things, but at the end of it all, putting someone so young and so inexperienced into the Austria game would be a really tough ask, a really tough ask," O'Neill said when pushed on why Maguire hasn't got the call.
"In terms of people coming to train, I’ve never had a problem with that and sometimes they pick up a few things that would help them with experience, so I’d have a look at (the possibility of bringing him in).
"But in terms of someone starting a game against Austria, which is a really, really important match, with no experience, I think that would be a tough call for the player."
Of Maguire's looming move to Deepdale, O'Neill added: "He was there (in England) as a young kid, he’s now more mature.
"I’m seeing these things from distance, I don’t know the lad at all. I can only judge by his football and last night in the penalty area, he was really excellent.
"I thought his movement in the penalty area was absolutely brilliant; really, really, good
"I think he has improved since the last time I saw him live, which was the Irish FAI Cup final.
"His movement got him the two goals that I saw - I left in the 83rd minute, so I didn’t see the final goal - but he did very well."
Ireland take on Uruguay at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday, a final chance to tweak preparations for the Austrian showdown a week later.
O'Neill saw an inexperienced and experiential line-up suffer a chastening 3-1 defeat to Mexico in New Jersey in the early hours of Friday morning, but several key men linked up with the squad on their return to Dublin and the manager admitted there'll be changes tomorrow.
"There'll be a few who need to play. We'll be changing a few things around," he said.
"The group that travelled to the USA has been supplemented by the likes of Robbie (Brady) and some of the other Premier League players."
