Mary Hannigantalks to Ireland's Keith Andrews as he prepares to face Cyprus in Saturday's World Cup qualifier.

HE HAD to wait until he was 28 before he won his first senior cap, in the friendly defeat to Poland last year, but once he made the breakthrough Keith Andrews impressed Giovanni Trapattoni sufficiently to be entrusted with the job of partnering Glenn Whelan in the Irish midfield.

Since making his competitive debut at home to Georgia in February the Blackburn player has started every World Cup qualifying game, an experience he described as “pinch yourself” territory.

But after having spells at six clubs in nine years, before joining Blackburn last summer, the Dubliner knows more than most that you can never get too comfortable.

“Slightly disappointing” is how he describes being left out of the starting line-up for the game against Australia at Thomond Park last month, but in light of the performance and result Andrews would be forgiven for privately thinking it was a blessing in disguise.

Like many of his team-mates, Darron Gibson, who started alongside Whelan before being replaced by Andrews after an hour, had a night to forget. Now the Manchester United player, who has experienced just 28 minutes of first-team football this season, and Andrews, who has started all four of Blackburn’s games, await the manager’s decision on who plays against Cyprus on Saturday.

“He’s probably already made up his mind, and I doubt his decision would be based solely on the last game. I think it will be the games gone past, in the last year or so. Yeah, I was slightly disappointed, I want to play every game for Ireland and Blackburn, it’s not nice to be on the bench when you have been starting regularly.”

Is Gibson now more of a threat to his place? “From my point of view, I don’t really care about any other individuals. It’s me I’m worried about. It’s my performances at club level and for Ireland and when I’m training, that’s all I can affect. I can’t really affect what other people do or don’t do. So, it doesn’t really bother me. I’m more bothered about myself and making sure my game is right.”

Andrews has been happy enough with his form this season, his confidence boosted by Sam Allardyce’s refusal to sell him to Fulham this summer, after the London club made their interest known, and the club’s offer of a new four-year contract, which he signed in July. So much for the theory that his Blackburn days were numbered once Paul Ince, the man who brought Andrews with him from MK Dons, was sacked.

“When I originally signed for Blackburn the chairman said that if I nailed down a place I would get rewarded with a new contract. The negotiations had been ongoing for a few months, dragging on a little bit, so I think a couple of clubs made inquiries – but they were made aware that I wasn’t for sale. I’m very happy at Blackburn, I enjoy it there, I like living in the area so, it was a no-brainer really.

“Since he (Allardyce) has come in he has been spot on with me, treated me very well and played me in the vast majority of games. Basically, that’s all I’m interested in, playing games, making sure I’m playing on a regular basis to give me the best chance of keeping my place in the Ireland team.”

The absence of one particular midfielder from the Irish squad has, ultimately, reduced the competition for places in the side, but Andrews insists nothing would cheer him more than to see the player in question return. Steven, not Stephen. Reid, not Ireland. Reid, who has been out for almost a year with a knee injury, was, said Andrews, the player who “made me feel more welcome than anyone when I arrived at the club – a top fella and a top player as well”.

“The respect I have for him . . . he is one of my best mates at the club, we get on very well. After seeing what he has been through for the last year, I really am itching for him to get back playing and back in the squad – and with his quality he is obviously someone you would want in the squad.”

Stephen Ireland? Andrews’ eyes are close to glazing over. “It’s dragging on and getting a bit boring, to be honest. You see articles every couple of weeks saying this and that. He obviously doesn’t want to play for Ireland. He’s a fantastic player with great ability and one we could do with in the squad, but we need players who are committed to the cause. From my point of view, the matter is fairly dead if he has come out and said things like that,” he said in reference to Ireland’s comment that retiring from international football was “the best decision” he had ever made.

He doesn’t pretend to understand the Manchester City player’s thinking, all Andrews knows is that since, as a 13-year-old, he sat beside his uncle, in 1994, behind the goal at the Giants Stadium where Ray Houghton scored the winner against Italy, he just wanted to play for Ireland.

He remembers with less fondness, to put it mildly, watching the 5-2 defeat in Cyprus three years ago. It still hurts. “I watched it at home with my family, it wasn’t great viewing. It was a very bad day in Irish football history. Yeah, it’s in the back of our minds, but this game is really about now, where we are in the group, getting the right result.

“If we win on Saturday we’ve got a fantastic chance of winning the group, especially with Italy coming to our place next month. They haven’t got an easy run-in, they’ve got Georgia away on Saturday and they play a very talented Bulgarian side as well. Come Saturday we will know a lot more about where we stand. But the belief in the squad is that if we win the game it gives us a great chance. Fingers crossed we do it.”