Troy Parrott example points way to 'better route' for Irish via continental pathway - Keith Treacy

admin admin | 09-24 16:15

Like buses, you wait 13 years for a Republic of Ireland international to score in the UEFA Champions League proper and then two come at once.

Not since Darron Gibson had found the net for Manchester United in the semi-final second leg against Schalke 04 in May 2011 had an Irish player scored in the group stages or beyond in Europe's elite club competition.

While the number of Irish players in the competition each season is not necessarily the primary gauge as to the health of the game at home, sightings of Boys in Green in the Champions League have been relatively meagre in recent years compared to other European peers.

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Aside from Idah, Scales and Liverpool's Caoimhin Kelleher - the latter two of whom have played in the competition proper previous to this season - Irish supporters will be keeping a close eye on Shamrock Rovers' exploits in the third-tier Conference League when its league phase gets underway next week.

But this week is all about the Europa League and Ireland striker Troy Parrott will be hoping to carry his encouraging start from the Dutch Eredivisie into the continental scene when AZ Alkmaar take on Swedish outfit IF Elfsborg on Wednesday.

Parrott, who enjoyed a productive loan at Excelsior Rotterdam last season, elected to continue his career in the Netherlands when he moved to AZ permanently in the summer and that decision is paying off so far.

The weekend before last, the Dubliner plundered four goals against a hapless Heerenveen in a 9-1 thrashing to press lift-off on his AZ spell and while he hasn't found the net in his five other appearances, the Dutch league stats do show he has been very much involved in terms of shots taken and on target, suggesting that he will add to his tally before long.

The added bonus of being at a club like AZ for Parrott will be the chance to play in European club competition.

Whereas if he had left Tottenham (the 22-year-old was only ever afforded four first-team appearances at Spurs in a relationship largely marked by loan moves to the Championship and League One) for a club lower down the Premier League pecking order or the division below, European football would have been off the menu.

So should more Irish players leap at the chance to join clubs that regularly qualify for Europe from outside the top four leagues rather than settling for lower-half Premier League sides or teams in the Championship?

"It's definitely a better route than sitting on the bench in the Premier League club or even a half-decent Championship team," he said.

"I think with the age profile of the players we're speaking about, they need to be playing football.

"Adam Idah is a prime example, Troy Parrott as well. He could have just sat around at Spurs and not got game-time but decided 'I'm going to go' and the one thing I liked when he had the loan last season in the Dutch league, he obviously had offers when he came back but decided 'I'm going to go back where I felt comfortable and scored the goals'.

"Sometimes you have to do the right thing for yourself and Troy, for me sometimes you can zoom out and think, 'Evan Ferguson is ahead of me in the Irish (pecking order), Adam Idah is ahead of me, maybe even (Sam) Szmodics will play ahead of me in a forward position'. Don't worry about that, go and play every game as it comes.

"You do well for your club, you've proven that you will get into the Irish set-up and Evan Ferguson is still struggling to come back (to form after) injury, so you're never too far away from the Irish team at all.

"So for Troy, keep your head down and keep doing what you're doing and it's only a matter of time."

Treacy added that "anything is better" than being a bit-part in the Premier League and pointed out that the "stigma of going too far away" has dissipated compared to in his own time.

"Go and play at any level rather than just stagnate because I've done that where I'm not quite playing in the reserves, not quite in the first team, you find yourself in limbo and your match sharpness can go very, very quickly and with the group of players that we have we're reliant on everybody so we need everybody to be getting minutes and to be as sharp as they can be."

Also speaking on the podcast, former St Patrick's Athletic player and manager Johnny McDonnell - another Irishman who can claim to have scored against Slovan Bratislava, as he did for the Saints in UEFA Cup qualifying back in July 1996 - lauded Parrott for taking the chance to go and fight for his place at a club of AZ's stature.

"I have to give it to him, he's put the head down. He'd lost his way over the last year or so but when he's on form, he's on form," he said.

"He's obviously said, 'I need to get my head together, need to get myself back out there, get myself back into the international team and get my profile up'.

"He's shown he has the ability to do it and sometimes it's just in a player's head.

"He just needs to get his head in the game and he's done that and fair play to him, he's banging in the goals."

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