David McGoldrick’s bright start to his Republic of Ireland career came as no surprise to Town boss Mick McCarthy. The 26-year-old, playing alongside his Blues team-mate Daryl Murphy, created two goals on his Ireland debut as Martin O'Neill's side beat the USA 4-1 in a friendly in Dublin.
"He’s got the ability to play at that level, and he’s certainly got the name to play for Ireland!” joked McCarthy.
"His ability is of international standard. I didn’t see the game as it wasn’t on my TV.
"But he played very well by all accounts and having the two of them play it’ll be a nice option for them having a partnership from a club which is doing well who can play together at international level.”
McCarthy, a former Ireland manager and skipper, believes he grew as a player when he first broke into the side: "I remember having played a number of international matches and it gave me great confidence.
"I remember coming back and training, I was at Manchester City at the time, and I felt so much better, so much more confident that I was playing in the international set-up. If we get another bit out of Didzy, we’ll have a really good player, won’t we?”
McCarthy says he’s a fan of the international breaks which have punctuated the season so far, believing they give his players a much-needed rest.
"I love the international breaks, they’re great,” he added. "I plan around them. They don’t bother me because they’re there and in six weeks’ time we might all be glad of a break.
"It is what it is. I remember coming back from the break last time and we played some good games but we dropped some points and people were saying we’d lost momentum.
"Then we got it back, we won three on the bounce. It doesn’t bother me. I thought it was great that my players got a break, actually.
"We’ve got a small squad, they all work very hard and it was good that they got a break. We had lots of niggly injuries coming along and most of them had a rest. I quite enjoy them.”