Jackson Irvine rewarded for County form with Australia call-up
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THE incentive of representing Australia helped sway Jackson Irvine’s move to Dingwall and he was rewarded with a recall to the Socceroos squad.
Irvine has been named by Australia manager Ange Postecogloucorrect in his squad for World Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh and Tajikistan next month, an honour club boss Jim McIntyre believes he fully deserves.
His debut against Canada in October 2013 is, to date, his only national team appearance, but McIntyre told him during negotiations over his future that he would add to that with regular football at Ross County.
Despite little in way of a pre-season after being frozen out at Celtic, Irvine has hit the ground running and featured in all of County’s four Premiership matches this campaign.
“He’s picked up where he left off and considering he’d not played any competitive matches before he joined up with us, that says a lot about him as a person. Some players need five or six games to get going but you’ve seen his positive approach,” said McIntyre.
“The one thing that we’d said in the process was to come and stay at a club for a couple of years and get 100 games under your belt. You’ll not just get your move on from that but you’ll get in (to the national side). It’s him that deserves all the credit because he’s put the hard work in. He’s a conscientious professional who works hard, so he deserves what he gets.”
The energetic midfielder will be on a high for the trip to one of his old clubs Kilmarnock tomorrow, with a hamstring injury to Richard Foster the only injury doubt for the team.
Midfielder Raffaele De Vita, like Irvine, is another of McIntyre’s signings from last season that has taken to life at County well, something he puts down to the closeness within the squad.
A change of living arrangements over the summer has seen the Italian moving in with Dingwall favourites Rocco Quinn and Michael Gardyne, something which has had a positive effect off the field.
“Being footballers, we can’t go out and do what we want, so we spend a lot of time relaxing. It’s difficult being on your own so that company is a good thing,” said De Vita. “Me and Rocco take care of the cooking — Midge takes care of the breakfast on matchday, which he’s getting good at. They’re brilliant guys to live with.
“I’ve definitely noticed, particularly down in England, that once training finished players were travelling everywhere and you never get to socialise together. Here, you’ve got small groups that will socialise and have coffees together.”
