Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, but…
Tuesday night saw a rake of Irish players making impacts in the Carabao Cup. Seven players scored nine goals, there were a couple of man of the match accolades and Kieran O’Hara kept a clean sheet in Burton’s win. Performance of the night, from an Irish perspective, was surely Josh Barrett’s.
The Reading midfelder scored his first and second senior goal for the club as they knocked out Plymouth with a 4-2 win. Barrett, who made his Reading debut at the age of 17 in 2015/16, ran amok down the left wing.
His first goal arrived when he cut inside and, when shown to the endline, he backed himself with a fizzing drive across the Argyle goalkeeper. He second goal was even better.
Barrett hared after a ball played down his flank, glided past the right back and curled a beauty into the top corner.
Credit: Reading Football ClubReading won out 4-2 to progress to the next round and Barrett is hoping that his excellent performance – only his eighth for the club after loans spells with Coventry and Aldershot – will see him featuring more in the cup, and the EFL Championship.
“You work towards getting these opportunities and making an impact. The biggest thing for me is that I want to keep myself relevant and keep myself involved in the first team, and for me to do that I have to show what I can do.
“I know what I’m capable of doing. I’ve always scored goals and I’ve always been confident of my ability to score goals.”
“It’s been frustrating in a certain way,” said Barrett of the stop-start nature of his Reading career, “but I’m grateful that I’m even there. For me, these performances are about doing everything I can to the best of my ability to make sure the gaffer picks me… If I’m needed, I’ll know I’ll be ready.”
Barrett was born in Oxford to parents that hail from Tipperary and Dublin. He has previously played with St Kevin’s Boys, in Dublin, and has also played a bit of GAA for Hampshire, over in England.
He has represented Ireland at U17, U19 and U21, most recently at the Toulon Tournament, where Stephen Kenny’s side reached the semi-finals.
You can see Barrett’s two goals here:
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