Barnsley captain Conor Hourihane has been rewarded for his fine start to life in the Championship by being named in the Republic of Ireland squad for their upcoming World Cup Qualifiers against Georgia and Moldova.
The 25 year old has only been recognised by his country at Under 19 and Under 21 level with his last cap coming in 2012.
However after leading The Reds to Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and League One play-off glory last season Hourihane has had a fantastic start this season, scoring three times and setting up five more goals which earned him the August Player of the Month award.
There had been some clamour over the last few weeks for the Cork born man to earn international recognition and Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane saw enough when he visited Oakwell for last weekend’s game with Reading to recommend him to manager Martin O’Neil and earn a call-up.