Jamie McGrath had to end a holiday in Spain shortly after it began when Heimir Hallgrimsson called him up for Ireland duty. He returned to Ireland on a plane and joined the squad after several players withdrew. McGrath came into the match and earned his 14th cap in a 1-0 win over Qatar. He described being on holiday Sunday night when the manager rang, landing about an hour later, then going out for dinner. He said he has a long time to go on holiday after retirement, and that getting another cap and playing for his country is the priority. He emphasized his pride in being Irish and his willingness to accept call-ups.
"I've been in a lot of camps and obviously a bit of limited game time so I was actually on holiday Sunday night when the gaffer rang me to come in Monday, I only landed about an hour and just went out for dinner and I had a nice call from the gaffer,"
"You have 30 years when you retire to go on holiday. I'm just delighted to get the nod and I have a great relationship with the gaffer. I was in Marbella. I was obviously over the moon, she was over the moon as well, everybody's over the moon, I just had to tell her I won't be on the flight on Thursday, we had a busy summer planned when I found out I was in the original squad but we'll drop that in the morning."
"Getting another cap, playing for the country, because at the end of the day as a kid, that's all you want to do and you've got the rest of your life to go on holiday, you might not get this chance again. It's your country at the end of the day. I'm a proud Irishman and I'd never ever reject a call-up."
"He's brought me in loads of times before and it was a no-brainer, I'd only not come in if my leg was hanging off. It was a quick turnaround and we had other holidays planned this week."
Read at Irish Independent
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