PNE winger Daryl Horgan looking for international rescue

The winger played the last 15 minutes of the Republic’s 1-0 defeat to Turkey on Friday.

His PNE team-mates Sean Maguire and Alan Browne had started the game.

Horgan has found his chances fairly limited at North End this term.

He has started only five games, just two of those coming in the league.

But Horgan has come off the bench 16 times, one of those appearances seeing him score at Burton in December.

The 25-year-old had no qualms about the substitute role for Ireland in Turkey.

Horgan said: “I’ve not been playing for Preston, so I don’t really have a leg to stand on.

“It’s hard for the manager to say I’m going to throw you in when I have two international appearances and it is not going as well as I would like at club level.

“For me, it’s a case of doing as well as I can in training and when I get a chance.”

The last time Horgan got on the pitch for North End was against Ipswich last month.

Reflecting on less time on the pitch this season, the former Dundalk wide man said: “It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just one of those things.

“I would obviously like to think that the manager will pick me but that is the way it is.

“That’s football, sometimes it goes well for you and then other times it doesn’t.

“I just have to keep working and hopefully play my way into contention in the last eight games for us.”

Horgan is part of a sizeable Irish contingent at Preston, with Greg Cunningham having also been in the Republic squad for the Turkey trip before being forced to pull out because of injury.

It could be that Callum Robinson gets added to the Irish number, the frontman having recently revealed he qualifies to play for them through his grandmother.

Said Horgan: “Callum has been doing really well for us this year.

“It is a big statement for him to come out and say he is going to play for Ireland.

“The manager I am sure will have a look at him.

“I think he was at Aston Villa when Roy Keane was there, so he will know him.

“Callum is a good lad, he is hard working and a good player.

“So we can’t complain when somebody like that wants to play for us. That is good to see.”