On last Friday's Late Late Show, Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson revealed that he would be including two Shamrock Rovers players in his provisional squad for next week's UEFA Nations League promotion/relegation play-off against Bulgaria.
A few days earlier in conversation with the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, his assistant John O'Shea underlined that the League of Ireland playing pool is very much in the thoughts of the management team ahead of this Thursday's squad announcement.
The indications are that one of the two Rovers players that will are in line for a call-up will be versatile defender Josh Honohan, who impressed during the Hoops' run to the first knockout round of the UEFA Conference League.
Appearing on this week's podcast episode, his former Shamrock Rovers team-mate Richie Towell backed the Carrigaline, Co Cork native to have the credentials to make the step up to senior international level.
"When you see the performances that he's been putting in in the Conference League, it's been of a very elite level," said Towell, who also said he hoped the move to include LOI players was not a box-ticking exercise in reaction to criticism Hallgrimsson has received about previous comments.
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"You'd like to think he has a slight chance. But he's up against lads like Jake O'Brien who's playing every week now in the Premier League.
"So when you throw that into the mix, realistically is he going to get a call-up (to the final squad), probably not but it's going to very interesting to see what the Ireland manager does."
But on Honohan's attributes, he added: "I think you can see his physical attributes straight away. He's six foot, he's probably about 85-90 kilos so he's well made.
"I know personally he works really, really hard in the gym, he works really hard on the pitch so you would like to see that being rewarded, obviously backing that up with his performances because even against Chelsea, you see the performances that he puts in, he was brilliant on the day.
"And then the whole way throughout the (Conference League) campaign, he was playing at an elite level.
"Josh can only play against what he's put in front of so he's done really well in all the games that I've been a part of (Rovers) squads with him and then since I've watching it from the start of this season onwards.
"You would love to see him get that opportunity because sometimes it happens where players are doing really well in the League of Ireland, they don't get a call-up because people are afraid of the level that they're playing at, they get a move to England and a week or two later they're called into a squad as if that week or two they've gone from here up to the elite levels."
While former Ireland winger Keith Treacy has been impressed by Honohan, the former Drogheda United and St Patrick's Athletic man sounded a note of caution about rushing too many inexperienced faces from the LOI or in England like Watford duo Rocco Vata and James Abankwah who have also been tipped for inclusion on Thursday, given how vital the Bulgaria tie is.
"I take everything that Heimir has said on board and take everything Richie has said on board as well but when you're bringing these lads in, it does feel like a little bit of a token gesture," he said."Because we're playing Bulgaria in a play-off. These aren't friendlies, these are really important games and if there was a fella playing in League One, in the Championship or even playing in the Premier League, you wouldn't be swaying towards throwing them into this game because they've never been in this deep water before."International football is a totally different kettle of fish to any other league football there.
"So I always think there's an element of risk."
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