MICK MCCARTHY HAILED Jack Byrne for the way in which he ‘lit up’ the Aviva Stadium on his senior Ireland debut last night.

The young Shamrock Rovers playmaker revealed afterwards that he’ll be saving his first green jersey for his mother as a memento of the special night.

Byrne, 23, has thrived since moving home to join Shamrock Rovers this season, forcing his way into the international picture with a series of eye-catching performances in the League of Ireland.

And Jackie Byrne deserves a huge amount of credit for her son’s success, according to Byrne’s agent Graham Barrett.

“Jack Byrne, his mother needs to take incredible credit for what he’s doing now, because his mother was the driving force in bringing him back home,” Barrett said last month on The Football Family podcast, available exclusively to The42 Members.

She basically said, ‘I’m worried about him, he needs to be in an environment where people are around him that care about him, to help him kick on again but also just for him to be happy.’

“People will say, ‘Jack Byrne, what a great player, he’s doing brilliant,’ and he is doing brilliant, but Jackie Byrne needs to take an awful lot of credit for how Jack Byrne is doing now because she was the one who instigated him coming home.

“That’s just a mother doing what’s best for her son. That’s not a mother getting carried away about him wanting to play here, there and everywhere. Reading The42 and getting hyped up.

She just cared about her son, and because she made that decision, because she made that move, now all of a sudden you’re seeing an exceptionally talented player who’s happy, who’s more mature, who’s probably ready to take the chances now.

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