Mikey Johnston says his next aim is to force his way into the Celtic first team after he scored his maiden goal for Republic of Ireland.
The 24-year-old winger netted the Irish’s second strike in a routine 4-0 Euro 2024 qualifying win over Gibraltar on Monday. It was Johnston’s first start for his country in only his second appearance of the season due to battling a stress fracture in his back. Johnston, who spent last season on loan at Vitoria Guimaraes, now wants to push past Daizen Maeda, Liel Abada, Luis Palma and Yang Hyun-jun and feature more regularly for his club.
“I’m just trying to work my way behind the scenes to get my opportunity,” said Johnston. “The manager [Brendan Rodgers] has got tough decisions to make. He has got wingers that he has brought in for a few million and whatever, so it’s up to me to get into the team.”
On the international front, Johnston has warned the Netherlands not to underestimate the Republic of Ireland as the Dutch attempt to book their place at the finals of Euro 2024. Barring an unlikely sequence of events which would hand Ireland a play-off place, they will not be in Germany next summer, but the Netherlands will be if they can take maximum points from their remaining Group B fixtures against Stephen Kenny’s men and Gibraltar next month.
Monday night’s last-gasp 1-0 win in Greece as the Republic beat Gibraltar 4-0 in Faro left the Netherlands in pole position to claim second place behind France, but Johnston, who was on the scoresheet along with Evan Ferguson, Matt Doherty and Callum Robinson, is determined to end a disappointing campaign on a high.
Asked if he saw the trip to Amsterdam as a chance to bloody the nose of one of European football’s big guns, who won 2-1 in Dublin last month, the 24-year-old said:
“I think we have shown we can do that. Obviously the results haven’t gone our way, but we went toe-to-toe with them and it’s just fine margins. At either end in the box, we’ve not been good enough at times, conceding goals we shouldn’t have and maybe we’ve not taken our chances as well. This group has given everything to qualify and that’s all we can ask.”