Mark Sykes in action for Ireland against Malta and Republic of Ireland. Photo by: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Mark Sykes in action for Ireland against Malta and Republic of Ireland. Photo by: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Belfast boy Mark Sykes says he never lost faith that Ireland’s call would come for him once he made the difficult decision to switch allegiance from Northern Ireland to the Republic.
The Bristol City player became the first Belfast native to line out for the Republic since 1946 when he made his debut under Stephen Kenny away to Malta last year, almost two years since the former Northern underage player decided to declare.
Kenny has spoken highly of the 25-year-old who is in line to get more game time in Wednesday’s friendly at home to Latvia, a warm-up game for the key qualifier at home to France on Monday.
"I believed in myself. I knew I was good enough to play,” he says of the wait between his decision to declare and his debut, as Sykes was an unused sub against Lithuania and Belgium 12 months ago.
"But I don't mind putting that pressure on myself and I know if I don't put in the performances at club level then I have no right to be here but recently I feel as if I've been doing well at a good level. I think I deserve my place here.
"Nobody deserves to be here just because they have declared for Ireland. I always put it down to my performance and when I am doing well, I feel I deserve my chance. If I'm not, then someone else will be there to take it.
"I feel like it's always down to me. I don't feel like anyone should just have the privilege of coming into a set-up like this. I feel like this season, definitely from Christmas onwards, my performances at club level deserve this position. I always put it down to myself. If I'm playing well at my club then I'm always in the picture here at international level."
Sykes played down a comment by Roy Keane that he was “brave” to make history by giving the Republic a Belfast-born player after such a long gap.
"There are many a thing that people said and it's a nice thing I suppose. Yes brave in a way as there may be a bit of backlash and people not thinking it was the right thing to do, but I've said in many interviews now that it's not them who is living my life," added Sykes.
“I'm out there putting the sacrifice in and hard work in and I made that decision full well knowing what is going to happen. I knew it was going to be a difficult decision because I feel like if I was to stay, which is something I wouldn't have wanted to do, I feel my foot was already in the door and never being around the Ireland set-up, I knew it was going to be difficult. But thankfully now with club performances I feel I have deserved my chance here and hopefully this week I can get some more minutes.
"For me, it was always the Northern Ireland set-up was there when I was younger. And to be honest, I don’t mind saying it, I wasn’t the best player when I was younger. I wasn’t the top of the tree. I wasn’t always getting picked. If I was the best player, someone might have came down and had a look. For me, until I got a little bit older. I didn’t move to England until I was 20 or 21, whenever that came out, I believe the FAI had an interest. And for me it was unbelievable that they did. Like I say, it wasn’t a difficult decision.”
Having worked his way up the ladder, from a start in the Irish League with Glenavon to his current side Bristol City via Oxford United, Sykes knows that France will provide a stern test, similar to the one he and his club faced in the FA Cup, against Manchester City.
"It’s going to be difficult. I’m just off the back of playing Man City with Bristol City so I know how difficult those games can be but we’re ready for it you know? We’ll work this week and hopefully we can put a good performance in. It’s just on a different level. As soon as you switch off, you get punished. And I played in that game, I played right back for half of the game," he says of the City Cup tie, a 3-0 home defeat.
“For someone like myself, I haven’t played there a lot in my career and you’re constantly aware of what’s going on around you. The coaching is obviously top quality, the players are worth millions and millions and I think they’d £380 million on the bench, something like that, that’s the step up in class you know. We went into the game with no pressure, just go out and express ourselves, enjoy ourselves as much as possible. We also wanted to put in a good performance and I think we done alright.”