Matt Doherty is set to reunite with his Republic of Ireland teammates this week after being called up to the squad for a crucial Nations League relegation/promotion play-off double header against Bulgaria.
The defender is just two outings away from reaching 50 caps for his country, and with his impressive form in gold and black, he could reach that milestone with the games in Plovdiv and Dublin coming up on Thursday and Sunday.
Having transitioned to centre-back under Vitor Pereira at club level during the second half of this season, Doherty is unsure where Ireland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson has him fitting into his plans but insists he will play anywhere on the pitch if it means pulling on his national team colours.
On joining up with Ireland
“It’s always good. Obviously, there’s been a long break since the last one, and always feels like it’s ages away, and then all of a sudden, it’s kind of crept up.
“But it’s always nice to see different faces, see the lads that you haven't seen in a while, so I always enjoy international duty.”
On a Nations League double header
“We've let ourselves down for a while now and although there’s some results that we’ve got, now we've got Bulgaria in a play-off and we've got to back ourselves to be beating Bulgaria.
“We obviously know it's not going to be easy, but if we want to be taken any way seriously, you kind of have to beat them over two legs.”
SQUAD ANNOUNCED | Hallgrímsson names 23-man squad for Bulgaria play-offs 🇮🇪
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) March 13, 2025
Armstrong, Abankwah, Vata & Dunne all included 👌
Bazunu, Smallbone & Sykes all return 👏
20/03 | 🇧🇬🆚🇮🇪
23/03 | 🇮🇪🆚🇧🇬
🎟️ 👉 https://t.co/3XYbGlUZjf pic.twitter.com/XQjTkVtbmB
On being a senior player in the squad
“I feel there’s no difference as I'm probably the most immature one out of all of them! But it's a good group we’ve got there with Ireland and it’s obviously young, but the energy is good and everybody gets on well.
“Every time we go away, we enjoy each other's company, so obviously I'm one of the older ones now, but I probably don’t act like it!”
On playing at centre-back or right-back
“I’ve not spoken to him [Hallgrimsson] about it at all. We’ve not spoken about positionally, so I’ll just go there and probably expect to play somewhere on the right right-hand side, whether that’s wing back, right full-back or wherever. But I’ll play anywhere the manager wants me to play.
“Even at club level, if I get asked to play, it doesn’t matter what position you are, if the manager asks you to play in a certain position, you’re going to play there.
“You’d rather play out of position than be on the bench. That’ll be the case for most players – you’d play anywhere just to get yourself into the starting 11.”
