Preston North End defender Andy Boyle is savouring the experience of earning his first international cap for the Republic of Ireland.
The Lilywhites No.24 returned to training at Springfields on Thursday and described the moment he made his first appearance in the green shirt of his country to PNE.Com.
“It was an amazing feeling to earn my first international cap,” he told the official website. “It was a great honour for myself and my family and I am really proud.
“The manager said me the night before that I would play at some stage, so I was looking forward to it all day and it was a great occasion. To become a full international is something that you dream of and I hope that it can be the first of many.
“I had a lot of family and friends there and I have got some memories that will now always stick with me and to make my family proud was a nice feeling.
“The game itself wasn’t a classic and the result wasn’t great, but I will always remember it as the night I made my debut and that is something that can’t be taken away from me.”
After the game the 26-year-old got a lot of media coverage as a role model for League of Ireland players who have not yet had the opportunity to progress.
“It shows for the younger League of Ireland players that is doesn’t have to happen straight away,” he continued. “You can work hard at home and keep progressing and continuing and you never know where it will take you.
“The focus for any young player is to keep working hard and to see where that takes them and hopefully I am a positive example of that.”
And with five weeks of the regular season to go, he is now fully focused on the task in hand at Deepdale: “I have looked at the schedule and it is a massive five weeks.
“There are so many games, playing every few days and it is something to look forward to. There are some big games for us and we can just take them game by game and look to enjoy it.
“There are massive pressure on the other teams and that’s not the case with us, we can enjoy it, but knowing that we are good enough to pick up points along the way.
“Momentum is a huge thing in football and if we can get a few back to back wins, then who knows where it can take us,” he added.
“It was an amazing feeling to earn my first international cap,” he told the official website. “It was a great honour for myself and my family and I am really proud.
“The manager said me the night before that I would play at some stage, so I was looking forward to it all day and it was a great occasion. To become a full international is something that you dream of and I hope that it can be the first of many.
“I had a lot of family and friends there and I have got some memories that will now always stick with me and to make my family proud was a nice feeling.
“The game itself wasn’t a classic and the result wasn’t great, but I will always remember it as the night I made my debut and that is something that can’t be taken away from me.”
After the game the 26-year-old got a lot of media coverage as a role model for League of Ireland players who have not yet had the opportunity to progress.
“It shows for the younger League of Ireland players that is doesn’t have to happen straight away,” he continued. “You can work hard at home and keep progressing and continuing and you never know where it will take you.
“The focus for any young player is to keep working hard and to see where that takes them and hopefully I am a positive example of that.”
And with five weeks of the regular season to go, he is now fully focused on the task in hand at Deepdale: “I have looked at the schedule and it is a massive five weeks.
“There are so many games, playing every few days and it is something to look forward to. There are some big games for us and we can just take them game by game and look to enjoy it.
“There are massive pressure on the other teams and that’s not the case with us, we can enjoy it, but knowing that we are good enough to pick up points along the way.
“Momentum is a huge thing in football and if we can get a few back to back wins, then who knows where it can take us,” he added.