'I'm playing well but I'm not 100 percent match fit yet. I missed five weeks and it takes time to get the sharpness back but I felt Saturday (for Tottenham Hotspur against Everton) was my best game as I'm catching up with every match,' he said.
'We're not going to win the game in the first five minutes but we will go out and set a high tempo for the 90 minutes. We know they have a very good team with some very good players so we'll need to be patient and take any chance that comes our way.'
'I was gutted to miss the game against Russia with injury. I was lucky enough to be over for the match and in around the dressing room so I felt involved even if I wasn't playing.'
And the Crumlin kid is looking forward to linking up once again with the current darling of Chelski and the Republic - Damien Duff.
'Duffer is a world class player and I think he surprises everybody with the things he does – I think he even surprises himself. I always saw it as myself and Damien because we came into the team at the same time. I just played my game and I had a lot of experienced players around me. I'm still only 23 and Duffer is older than me.'
Older and wiser perhaps, but together in an Irish team determined to succeed.