“It would be nice for someone to step up and be a consistent goalscorer at international level”.
It was a desperate plea uttered by Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill last week as he named his latest squad for upcoming Nations League games.
Four strikers currently playing in League One will vie to lead the line against Belarus and Bulgaria over the next seven days
Between them, Callum Marshall, Dion Charles Josh Magennis and Jamie Reid have 15 goals in 109 games for NI and O’Neill admitted that “it is very difficult” to pick up victories without “consistent goalscorers in your forward line”.
It seems that Ronan Hale is the latest striker determined to answer the call to be NI’s go to man up front.
The Ross County forward has had a terrific start to life with the Scottish side after making the move from Cliftonville in the summer.
His retaken penalty against Celtic on Sunday brings him up to four league goals in five games. He has seven goals in 11 appearances in all competitions.
He is evidently Northern Ireland’s most in-form striker, but there is one small hitch; he hasn’t got his international clearance through to play for Northern Ireland so can’t be selected.
The ‘cometh the hour, cometh the man’ headlines will have to wait until at least the next international window in November, and maybe as O’Neill alluded to on Thursday, beyond that.
What’s the hold-up and why can’t Hale be selected?
Hale was born in Belfast and chose to represent the Republic of Ireland as a younger player, featuring and scoring for both their Under-19 and Under-21 sides.
He scored two goals in five games at the U21s in 2018, but as he bounced around clubs in the League of Ireland and the Irish Premiership and with the likes of Brighton’s Evan Ferguson and Celtic’s Adam Idah on the scene, his chances of winning a senior international cap for the Republic diminished.
Hale continued to go about his business, and he finally found a welcoming home at Irish Premiership side Cliftonville in the summer of 2022.
In his first campaign with the Reds, Hale netted 29 goals in all competitions, and he followed that up with 22 last season, including two in the Irish Cup final against Linfield.
His goal scoring exploits not only made Ross County sit up and take notice, but they also caught O’Neill’s eye as he looks to address a problem position in his squad.
The wheels for a switch of international allegiances were set in motion in August as Hale committed to NI after various conversations with O’Neill.
Yet, as O’Neill explained, it is a slow, “administrative” process that lies ultimately with the world’s governing body Fifa – not the Irish FA [IFA] or the Football Association of Ireland [FAI] – and Hale was “very adamant” to switch, hence why the process was started so there is no suggesting he is staying with the Republic.
Hale was quite calm about the matter when asked by BBC Scotland to comment on the situation after his side’s eventual 2-1 defeat against Celtic on Sunday.
“From what I have heard I am still waiting on clearance to come through, but it has let me fully focus on Ross County, I am enjoying my football and scoring goals,” he said.
“International football is massive, when Michael [O’Neill] phoned me and said the chance was there to play international football it wasn’t an opportunity I was going to let go and hopefully it gets sorted sooner rather than later.”
Forward conundrum persists for O’Neill
That is a sentiment that will be echoed by O’Neill, who unable to call upon Hale, has challenged his strikers picked to “step up” as he looks to develop a settled squad in these Nations League fixtures ahead of World Cup qualifiers next year.
“A lot of them [strikers] are scoring goals at League One level but it is a step up when you come and play at international level and they have to bridge that gap,” O’Neill said on Thursday.
Stevenage forward Jamie Reid looks set to regain his starting place for the upcoming games away to Belarus in Hungary and at home to Bulgaria after he missed September’s games after developing a blood clot in his leg.
He has only recently returned for his club and has delivered two assists in his six games for his club.
Reid scored on his international debut in a friendly against Romania in March but has drawn a blank in his three caps since.
Dion Charles is the most in-form at club level out of the quartet chosen by O’Neill for this international window and started in the win against Luxembourg and the defeat against Bulgaria.
He has six goals in 11 games in all competitions for Bolton, including a hat-trick against Reading.
Charles has been less potent for his country netting three times in 22 caps, the last of which came against Denmark in November last year.
West Ham youngster Marshall has two goals in 10 games for Huddersfield after arriving on loan but is yet to score for his country after four caps and O’Neill has favoured playing the 19-year-old in a wider role for NI.
Magennis is the most experienced of the four strikers and has the most goals, with 11 from 79 caps.
He has largely been used from the bench since O’Neill returned, with his last goal coming in October last year in a win against San Marino.
He is yet to score for Exeter this season and was a half-time substitute against Luxembourg but didn’t feature in Bulgaria so is unlikely to spearhead their attack going forward.
Thankfully for Northern Ireland, goals in recent times have come from other sources like Conor Bradley and Isaac Price, but they will be hopeful to have Hale involved in November as he tries to become the consistent goal scorer that his country desperately need.