Daryl Murphy sent out another gentle reminder to Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill last night when he brought his season's tally to 10 with a crucial brace for Ipswich Town in a 2-1 win over Wolves.
The former Sunderland and Celtic forward is "definitely" enjoying the form of his life at the moment, but insisted afterwards it will count for nothing if he can't keep up the momentum.
“I’ve played well in the past, but I’ve never been as prolific as I have been over the last few games,” said the 31 year old who managed 13 last season, his best return over a campaign to date after scoring 10 in the 2006/2007 campaign with Sunderland.
The Waterford man has not yet scored for Ireland but has been a consistent presence in O'Neill's squad and came off the bench in the 7-0 win over Gibraltar in October, though the home side failed to find the net after all three changes were made in the 63rd minute.
At this rate, he may yet get a chance from the start in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Scotland at Celtic Park on Friday week.
His consistency at club level, he says, is down to the faith shown in him by Tractor Boys manager Mick McCarthy and that settled feeling all striker’s crave.
“That definitely is a big factor. You’re not always thinking ‘what’s going to happen at the end of the season?’ It’s not nice having to decide whether to move the kids out of school or be away from them.
“You can see in my form now that I’m well settled here and enjoying every minute.
“The gaffer asked us all to write down how many goals we think we’d get at the start of the season. I won’t say what mine is, but I want to beat last year’s tally and get as many as I can.
“I’ve had a decent enough start, but I need to maintain it. There’s no point getting these early goals and then not doing it again for a while.”
McCarthy was keen to keep his striker’s feet on the ground afterwards, suggesting he could offer more in defence.
"It's just as well he got the winner because he got Luke Hyam booked for not tracking a runner," said the manager. "He can't play on Saturday now so he owes him his appearance money and his bonus if we win it. He was fabulous, but I thought I'd put that perspective on it. You still have to do those rubbish jobs. He did 99 times out of 100 to be fair."
