Blues midfielder Jack Taylor says making his Republic of Ireland debut after four years of waiting was “an incredibly proud moment”.
The 26-year-old received his first senior call-up for the November 2020 Nations League game against Bulgaria in Dublin while with Peterborough and was named in a number of subsequent squads while with Posh, who are likely to have benefited financially from his international debut via the deal which saw him join Town in the summer of 2023, but without ever making it onto the pitch.
London-born Taylor, who qualifies for Ireland via his County Longford-born grandfather, was left out of squads last season due to his infrequent involvement with the Blues, but his five sub appearances in the Premier League this season have caught the eye of new Irish boss Heimir Hallgrímsson.
Having been left on the bench for the 2-1 win in Finland on Thursday, Taylor was finally given the nod in the 57th minute last night as Ireland looked to pull level after going behind just after half-time, Town teammates Dara O’Shea, Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene all having started both matches.
Taylor, playing a more advanced role than has usually been the case for the Blues, made a strong impression and twice went close to scoring before the Greeks added a second in the closing minutes following an error by keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
"It was an incredibly proud moment for me and my family, coming on in such a hostile atmosphere and we were obviously 1-0 down when I came on,” Taylor told RTE.
"I thought if I bring some energy, we’ll definitely get a goal back and I think we deserved a point in the end.”
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Regarding the effect he and his fellow subs had on the game, he added: "Football’s a squad game, you never know you’re going to be called upon and if a game’s not going a certain way, you need to bring a different intensity and make an impact on the game.
"All the subs did and we’re happy with that, but the individual errors over the last couple of games, we don’t really need to concede to get going. We’ll sort that out and we definitely deserved a point.”
Reflecting on the role he was asked to play, he said: "I played behind [former Town loanee] Troy [Parrott, now with AZ Alkmaar] when I came on, just to try and get on the ball and try and feed passes into the wide players and get into the box when it was there. I thought I did OK, but plenty more to come from me.”
Manager Hallgrímsson was pleased with Taylor’s performance both in the game and in training.
"He is one of a few players in this camp, in these two games, that came in and changed things, and that is what you want to see when you put in substitutes,” the Icelander said.
"You would like to see players step up and make the difference and show the coach and the country, 'I’m here, I want to be in this team'.
"I think this game, and more players as well, the same last game with [Watford’s] Festy [Ebosele], more players came in and made a difference. So I’m happy with that, that is what we want to see.”