Wolves striker Kevin Doyle admits he still thinks he’s a 21-year-old.

But thankfully he has the wisdom of someone far older.

Doyle, who is the only one of the three Wolves players in the squad who have been selected for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 qualifier away to Armenia tonight, might still striving for his best form after a calf injury in pre-season.

But as he prepares to turn 27 in 15 days’ time, the £6.5m hitman has the experience to know that while form is temporary, class is permanent.

From new kid on the block for Ireland, Doyle is now one of the country’s more experienced players with Shay Given, John O’Shea, Richard Dunne and Robbie Keane.

Doyle is about to hit his peak years as a striker, and while he awaits the return of his golden touch, it’s a relief to know that at least in terms of his energy, he reckons he feels much younger.

He said: “I never look at myself as a senior player, even though I’m 27 by the time of the next qualifiers.

“Four years ago I was the youngest player in the squad and even though I’m not now, I still think of myself as 21.

“I feel 21 and I think it in my head because there are plenty of older, more experienced lads in the squad than me.

“I’ve been in the team for four years now but I’m still looking over my shoulder, which is good.

“I just want to stay in form and stay in the team and get a few goals along the way.”

Doyle admits he knows little about Armenia.

But the striker believes Ireland’s players have more nous than ever to deal with the pressures of a qualification campaign after their last one.

He said: “I don’t know much about them but I doubt it’s going to be easy playing somewhere that’s seven hours from Dublin.

“Going on a long journey and through time zones certainly doesn’t help us, but everything has been done to make it as smooth as possible for us.”

Doyle revealed there is a real resolve in the camp after that controversial play-off defeat to France that prevented Ireland from reaching the World Cup.

He said; “We’re more confident this time than we were the last time. We went unbeaten through the group and hopefully that will help us.

“We were that close and we all believe now. I don’t know if we believed that much before. But everyone knows their job now and there’s a lot more positivity this time.

“Seeing Paraguay – who we played beforehand – doing very well, made us think we could do that.

“Then some of the smaller countries at the World Cup inspired us.

“Had we been there, I think we’d have done very well.”

And even though only the group winners qualify with the second-placed team having to play off again, Doyle is optimistic of their chances.

He said: “I’d imagine Russia are going to be the strongest – they tend to do very well in qualifying.

“But if we play like we did in the group last time – and particularly the second half of qualification – then we should do well because we were very unlucky last time.

“It was only Italy – the top team in the group – who pipped us last time and then France put us out.

“But against the bigger teams, we seemed to play very well so if we can play like that again, I’d be very confident of us finishing just as high.

“Russia will be very close to qualifying first and then it’s a play-off for the second place.

“Of course we’ve got experience of that and although we’d prefer to avoid it, why can’t we be up there with Russia?”

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy was the last man to lead Ireland to a major tournament – the 2002 World Cup.

And Doyle believes it’s high time they reached another.

He said: “The manager here at Wolves was the last man to get us qualified, for the 2002 World Cup if I remember correctly, and I’d love to be able to do it without needing the play-offs.

“We didn’t make it the time before last either because of losing in the play-offs. And I think we missed out on Euro 2000 in the play-offs as well.

“But even though the group will be tough, if we play very well, we could have a chance of topping it and I’d love to do that.”