What Portsmouth forward Ronan Curtis had to say about his Republic of Ireland playing snub and where his focus is now

The 25-year-old, who has made six appearances for his country, was named in Eire’s most recent squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg – along with the international friendly against Qatar.

But the winger failed to make an appearance for his country over the three games, after being left out of the match-day squads for the two qualifying games, while being an unused sub in the encounter against the 2022 World Cup hosts.

Stephen Kenny’s side were unable to win any of the fixtures – extending the manager’s winless run to 11 matches.

Curtis, however, returned to winning ways upon his Blues return on Good Friday – starting and scoring in Pompey’s 2-1 victory against Rochdale, after missing the win at Shrewsbury because of his international commitments.

The Dale triumph saw the Fratton Park outfit maintain their 100-per-cent winning record under new head coach Danny Cowley – form that has seen them return to the play-off places.

Pompey will be looking to extend that run at Wigan tomorrow to further cement their place in the top six.

And Curtis stressed he’ll be fully committed to playing his part in that objective, with his Ireland frustrations now behind him.

He told The News: ‘Every player gets disappointed if they don’t play a game for their club or country, but it was just about experience for me.

‘I’m still a young lad, I just bite the bullet and keep going.

‘I’m focusing on Portsmouth now – trying to get us promoted and to keep scoring and getting assists.

‘I’ll try to be there (back with Ireland) in September again.

‘I’ve just got to keep applying myself right and in the right manner and keep working hard on the training ground and hopefully apply it every Saturday.’

The Republic of Ireland have three World Cup qualifiers in September against Portugal, Azerbaijan and Serbia respectively.

But they also have friendlies against Andorra and Hungary in June, which Curtis will be keen to be a part of.