CALLUM O’DOWDA IS among the Irish players hoping to impress new manager Mick McCarthy ahead of his first game in charge next March.
However, the 23-year-old has had a mixed season at club level with Championship side Bristol City.
Having missed a couple of games recently through illness, he made a return to the starting line-up against title-challengers Norwich City over the weekend and repaid manager Lee Johnson’s faith with a superb goal — his first since November 2017.
Picking up a through-pass from Marlon Pack, O’Dowda raced forward before unleashing a powerful strike that went in off the underside of the crossbar.
Johnson labelled his performance “outstanding”, saying: “It was great goal. His energy and his willingness to run was always going to be important to us.”
O’Dowda added: “I’ve been quite unlucky with my illnesses, and I still probably haven’t got over it 100%. So it’s nice to get back in.
“As soon as Marlon picked it up, that was the first thought in my head. That’s what I tried to do today — run in behind and cause a threat.
“It was a great pass and I think it [the goal] took a deflection, but I didn’t really care to be honest.”
The game finished 2-2 to leave Bristol 14th in the table. Watch O’Dowda’s goal below [2:58 in]:
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