Martin O'Neill considers Wolves striker Joe Mason for Ireland

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has Wolves striker Joe Mason on his radar as he looks to the future following their Euro 2016 exit.

Mason has been capped by Ireland at under-21 level but has yet to win a senior cap.

O'Neill is looking at refreshing an ageing forward line, with 35-year-old former Wolves man Robbie Keane unlikely to be on the international stage for much longer.

Daryl Murphy, 33, Jonathan Walters, 32 and Shane Long, 29, made up the rest of Ireland's striking options at Euro 2016.

And 25-year-old Mason will be checked over by O'Neill, although the Ireland boss said he'd prefer if the former Cardiff man was playing Premier League football.

O'Neill told the Irish Independent: "I'll have a little look (at Mason) again.

"Sometimes it's difficult to make a judgement on a player who is playing a couple of leagues below as to whether they could step up and do a job with this intensity at the minute."

Plymouth-born Mason qualifies for Ireland as his mother hails from County Mayo.

He moved to Molineux for £3m last January but found regular starts hard to come by, scoring three goals in 16 appearances, of which seven were as a substitute.

O'Neill added of Keane: "When Robbie doesn't play - and obviously his career is in the latter stages - then we don't actually have a natural goalscorer in that sense.

"It would be nice to have a forward . . . what shall I say. . . that we don't have a Gareth Bale in that sense. We don't have that."

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