Immersed in pre-season training with Shamrock Rovers, Jack Byrne spent the day up to his ankles in mid-winter muck at Cathal Brugha Barracks completing an Irish Army assault course.
The Republic of Ireland midfielder may be preparing for the start of the new campaign with the FAI Cup winners, but no sooner than the season starts, there will be immediate intrigue as to whether Byrne remains part of Mick McCarthy's plans for the must-win Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia in March.
While the entire Ireland squad, aside from Byrne, are plying their trade in the English leagues, playing and training day-in, day-out since last August, the Rovers midfielder has been essentially idle in term’s of competitive football since the cup final in early November.
The Dubliner will finally get back playing on Sunday, 9 February in the President's Cup, while the first league match for the Hoops takes place the following Saturday, just over a month out from Ireland’s trip to Bratislava.
But the 2019 PFAI player of the year remains confident that he will be in the frame for inclusion in the panel and potentially making the matchday squad, as was the case for the last home clash against Denmark at the Aviva Stadium, where Ireland fell short of automatic qualification following a frenetic 1-1 draw.
"Last year kind of proves that, if I’m at my best, I think I’d give myself a chance," said Byrne.
"I can just concentrate on doing as well as I can and, obviously, there are some unbelievable players in the squad so he will have his pick. Hopefully, I can put myself in his mind.
"It’s out of my control. The only thing that is in my control is doing as well as I can when I am on the pitch. I believe in myself and I back myself."
Byrne began the 2019 campaign with a string of excellent eye-catching performances and was rewarded with a place in the squad for the opening two matches of the campaign against Gibraltar and Georgia.
And now 12 months on, the midfielder believes that he is in a much stronger place than he was this time last year, which augers well for both Shamrock Rovers and the national side.
"I’m in a better place than where I was last year when I was called up in March," said Byrne, speaking to RTE Sport.
"I think I am fitter, I am mentally a lot stronger so if he is picking the squad in March, obviously when I was first called up it was in March, so I think I back myself to give myself a chance, if I am at it.
"If I’m obviously not at it, I won’t be in the squad no matter when the games are."
Byrne has complete faith in McCarthy’s management style and lauded the Ireland boss regarding the belief that he has shown over the past 12 months, combined with the advice offered throughout that period, which saw Byrne make his international debut against Bulgaria, where he was instrumental as Ireland secured a 3-1 victory.
"I think Mick has been unbelievable for the team and for giving players in the squad belief to go and win the big games.
"When I first got called up to the squad, Mick had told me to work on certain stuff. Then there was a squad in the summer that I wasn’t involved with and he rang me up and told me: 'look, this is basically why you aren’t going to be involved,’ and I said: 'yeah, okay, I’ll go and work on it’.
"He didn’t have to do that. He didn’t have to make that phone call.
"But I went away and worked on it and then when I was called up to the next couple of squads, I think he could see the improvement in my game, that I was trying to work on the stuff that he was saying and I obviously got two caps towards the end of the year so...."
Back in 2016, months out from the European championships, the then 19-year-old Byrne was called into the Ireland training squad by Martin O’Neill.
"I believe in my own ability and that I’m as good as anybody in the squad," said the confident teenager at the time, which was followed up by O’Neill, who said, "If he backs it up with ability, then great…[but] he might have a bit of that [cockiness] knocked out of him by the senior boys."
Looking back, Byrne said he learned a lot from that all-too brief experience with the squad.
"It taught me a lot. The spell after that taught me a lot. You get called up early and you think: ‘this is great, this is going to happen every week....everything is rosey,’
"But then you hit a little bump in the road. And that teaches you to appreciate it more when it does happen.
"Three years later when I was starting on the side of the pitch, getting ready to come on against Bulgaria, it sort of hit me that it had been a long road when I sort of thought that it was going to be easy....it’s far from easy."
Byrne revealed that O’Neill did not talk to nor advise him at the time, and by contrast, McCarthy’s management style appears much more to the player's liking.
"I never had a problem with Martin O’Neill; he was very good to me....he gave me my first call up and Roy Keane was very good to me, I spoke to Roy.
"It probably wasn’t Martin’s style of management, to pull somebody [for a chat].
"[Now] I have been around the game a little longer. I had only been at Man City and then in Holland at that time. I only would have been around two coaches and they were very hands on. So that’s why, now, looking back…
"I’m very grateful to Mick, Terry Connor and Robbie Keane for taking time out, for pulling me, every time I leave an Ireland camp.
"They won’t send me away without giving me advice; telling me, ‘this is what you need to work on, this is what you need to do if you want to become a better player.’
"Not just to play in their team but just to become a better player for myself."
