BARNSLEY midfielder Patrick Kelly is looking forward to one of the biggest weeks in his career so far as he is due to face former club Doncaster Rovers on Saturday then try to take his country to their first World Cup in 40 years.
The 21-year-old is part of the Northern Ireland squad for their World Cup qualifier against hosts Italy on Thursday.
He so far has one cap for his country last November.
Kelly told the Chronicle: “It’s exciting. It’s everything you dream of as a kid.
“You want to get to a World Cup for your country.
“To have the opportunity to potentially play in that game would be unbelievable.”
Northern Ireland have not been to a World Cup since the 1980s but qualified for Euro 2016 when Kelly was at school.
He said: “I remember it really well.
“It was when I fell in love with football. I was only 11.
“Some of that team then are still in the team now like Josh Magennis.
“Steven Davis (then captain) is one of the coaches now and I looked up to him growing up.
“This is a new generation coming through. We have a younger team than it has been. It’s up to us to give everyone in the country something to cheer about and, hopefully, over the next ten years we can get to as many tournaments as possible.”
Kelly this week returned from a calf injury he picked up at Leyton Orient in late February, after which he looked upset.
He admits he was concerned initially that he would miss the games coming up this week.
He said: “I was a little bit worried.
“I felt something go in my calf.
“I waited a couple of days and got scans.
“There were two tears but it wasn’t as serious as I first thought so I was just out for nearly two weeks. I was definitely a bit worried that night on the bus home. I was beating myself up a bit but thankfully it wasn’t too serious.
“When you start playing senior football you learn to get back in quick and not waste time. I knew we had such big games coming up so I wanted to get back as quick as possible.”
If Michael O’Neill’s side win in Bergamo, they will play one more match against either Bosnia and Hezegovina or Wales, whose under 21 squad has featured Kelly’s Oakwell team-mates Jono Bland and Vimal Yoganathan.
“I mentioned it to Vimal because we’re in the same car school. He didn’t realise we were in the same part of the draw.
“It would be a really good game.”
Kelly spent last season at Doncaster on loan from West Ham, playing 30 games and helping them win the League Two title. He still knows a lot of the Donny team but is hoping to beat them again like in November when he played a starring role in an away victory.
“It’s just another game at the end of the day. You can have a laugh and joke with them after or before but, once you’re on the pitch, you’re switched on and it’s another game.
“The last game showed that. We will just focus as soon as the whistle goes then deal with whatever happens after.”
Barnsley are unbeaten in four but the last three have been draws.
Kelly said: “It shows where we’re at that we’re in the changing room disappointed with the last ten days and we haven’t lost any of the games.
“It shows we’re going in the right direction but we need to turn draws into wins. I think we’ve been more consistent. We haven’t been conceding as many goals. That is definitely an improvement. We need to get back to scoring the goals we’ve scored and we’ll be in a good place.”
