Bournemouth should be one of the “100” monitoring Irish winger
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The performances and results of Dundalk have been one of the biggest stories of the early stages of the 2016/17 season.
A 1-1 Europa League draw away to AZ Alkmaar and a 1-0 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv means they are the first Irish side to register points in the group stages of a European competition.
Meanwhile, Dundalk are four points clear at the summit of League of Ireland Premier Division after 28 games and have reached the final of the FAI Cup.
The Europa League results in particular suggest that at least a handful of the club’s players are capable of playing more regularly at a higher level, with winger Daryl Horgan sure to be at the top of any shortlist.
Horgan has provided both assists in Europe, won the SSE Airtricity/Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month award twice this season and most recently netted both goals in the crunch league clash with Dundalk’s nearest pursuers Cork City.
There have been big calls for the 24-year-old to be included in recent Ireland squads for the World Cup 2018 qualifiers with Georgia and Moldova.
Ipswich are one club known to be keeping tabs on Horgan, but manager Mick McCarthy believes they are one of plenty.
“There were about 100 scouts watching him against Cork. I can tell you that,” McCarthy said.
Whether one of this overabundance of scouts represent Bournemouth is unknown, but if Horgan is to make the jump to the Premier League, the Cherries could seemingly profit from his creativity more than most.
Eddie Howe’s men have the lowest chance-creation percentage down the left flank this season, creating fewer than a quarter of their opportunities from this wing.
Horgan has some similarities with Irish wing legend Damien Duff both in playing style and appearance and another dribbling threat wouldn’t go amiss for a Bournemouth side that have only scored six goals in seven games so far.
Bournemouth have collected eight points through their opening seven games to sit 13th in the Premier League standings. They are 8/1 to be relegated at the end of the season.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
