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21st August 2017
08:30am BST

The 24-year-old recently spoke to The Times about the reason that he took so long to announce his intentions and they are very reasonable.
“When I first met Martin O’Neill I explained to him that I had had two years out with injuries and I said to him ‘just let me get back playing, let me get a full season under my belt’. That is how it has panned out,” Hogan said. “Then we got in touch with him. There was no issue with me saying I am waiting for this or I am going to do this. It was always that case and the manager knew that and was fine with it. That is why it was left so long. It has just gone as organised with the manager really. I am just waiting for it to go through and then it should be okay.”
The addition of Hogan to the squad is a huge boost to a forward line that is clearly ageing, Shane Long turned 30 back in January and Jon Walters quickly approaching his 34th birthday.
However, with the 24-year-old now set to feature in the squad in the future with 23-year-old Sean Maguire, there is now more reason than ever to be optimistic about the Irish team going forward.Explore more on these topics: