KEVIN KILBANE HAS backed Ireland manager Mick McCarthy in his attempts to build his best team, but still harbours doubts over the country’s pursuit of striker Patrick Bamford.

McCarthy confirmed yesterday that the Leeds striker is intending to pledge his international allegiance to the Boys in Green, qualifying through his maternal grandparents.

However, Kilbane still has reservations about Bamford’s commitment given that he represented Ireland just once, at U18 level, before playing the remainder of his underage internationals with England.

“He’s available and Mick is quite right that when he says that he’s got a duty to put the best team available to him on the pitch, the best 11, the best 23,” Kilbane said today, speaking at Virgin Media’s launch of their Spectacular Week of Sport.

“Patrick Bamford does qualify for us, [but] his first choice was always England.

“He’s got to a stage where he’s not going to play for England and he’s been deemed not good enough, but who’s to say that if he’s 28 or 29 and scoring goals at a top-level that that wouldn’t be available to him?

Personally, I’d want to back myself to play for the country that I want to play for.”

Ipswich Town forward, Will Keane’s name has also entered the fray regarding a possible declaration for McCarthy’s men. But, in his case, Kilbane reckons Ireland are merely his “fallback” option.

His twin, Everton defender Michael, previous represented Ireland at U17 and U19 level, before going on to forge an U21 and senior career with the English.

“We’re always going to have names being thrown around, players that can play for us thrown to Mick. The amount of names that I’ve been told who can qualify for us, even when I was playing myself, there’s lads being put to you.

Look at Will Keane now, Will Keane all of sudden gets to the stage where he’s not going to progress to the English set-up and ‘that’s [Ireland] my fallback plan’.

“I don’t want to be the fallback plan. All of a sudden, we are the second option.”

Padraig Amond lining out for Ireland's U23s back in 2010. Donall Farmer / INPHO Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO

Contrastingly, Kilbane has supported the inclusion of Pádraig Amond — the Newport County attacker who rose to prominence with his performances in this season’s FA Cup — for the first time.

“I’ve seen him on Instagram and Twitter, and I think you can tell that [his reaction] it’s not just fluff or rubbish that he wants to put out there,” Kilbane added.

“I’ve spoken to him and have a small kind of relationship with him, and I know what it means to him to play for us. That overriding joy for my first call-up to the U21s, it’s the little things that stick in your mind; that’s the ultimate joy that you can never replace.

“I’m not saying that Patrick Bamford won’t get that buzz or give his all if he comes in. If Patrick Bamford goes on to score 20 or 25 goals playing in an Irish shirt, of course, [I’m] 100% on board with him, 100% supportive of him.

“But, I’d slightly be leaning towards preferring Pádraig Amond playing. That’s my own personal preference.”

Kilbane was speaking at Virgin Media’s ‘Spectacular Week of Sport’ launch today — more than 40 hours of the biggest sporting events of the season, with exclusive coverage of Ireland v France in the Guinness Six Nations, all four days of the Cheltenham Festival, Man City v Schalke and Liverpool v Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League ties featuring Arsenal and Chelsea

Andy Dunne joins Murray Kinsella and Ryan Bailey to discuss Joe Schmidt’s undroppables and how France might attack Ireland’s predictability in The42 Rugby Weekly.

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