Doyle's duty for his country

But as the 26-year-old striker prepares to swap the gold and black for the green of the Republic of Ireland tomorrow, the club record £6.5million record signing is raring to go again.

Doyle, who was the victim of a rejected Wolves penalty decision 12 days ago at Sunderland, was enraged when another seemingly clear spot-kick claim was waved away in the loss to Pompey.

He said: "I went home to Wexford for a couple of days before meeting up on Tuesday. I wanted to get the Portsmouth defeat out of my system and get ready to go again. It was disappointing on Saturday.

"Maybe we should have had a penalty but we've got to rely on ourselves, not the referee.We had plenty of possession and half chances and, on another day, we'd have won. Hopefully we'll enjoy the international break and come back ready to go again."

Ireland host Group 8 leaders Italy tomorrow at Croke Park.

The world champions are four points clear of second-placed Ireland with two games left.

With both nations hosting winnable home qualifiers next Wednesday – Ireland have Montenegro and Italy face Cyprus – the odds are on Italy qualifying automatically.

But Doyle is confident Ireland can emulate his heroes of 1990 and 1994 and reach the finals in South Africa next summer.

He said: "If we can guarantee ourselves second place, hopefully that will be enough. You never know, but we want to ensure we get second so we don't slip up.

"Mathematically we can finish top but, first and foremost, we want to secure second place. The Italy game gives us the chance to do that and it's absolutely massive.

"It will be an excellent night at Croke Park – it's just a pity Italy got a result against Bulgaria the other week, otherwise it would have been a deciding match.

"That wasn't to be but we're still in with a shout. We have two games left and if we get results from them we're guaranteed to be in the play-offs. There's an outside chance. With Italy beating Bulgaria, it makes it difficult to win the group but, if we were to win, Italy will be the nervous ones going into their game.

"Anything can happen and they have Cyprus in the last game. If we got a result against Italy, Cyprus are a tough team to play.

"I've seen the video of them playing Italy and they should have beaten them. Italy were poor against them. One of the lads here Nenad Milijas plays for Serbia and he couldn't believe how good Cyprus were.

"Italy don't want to wait for the last game to qualify though – they just want to beat us and go through. They won't be flamboyant about it – they'll just go out and do their job to get the win."

After a goal and the captain's armband for the first time in his last two appearances for Ireland – the 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory in Cyprus followed by leading the team out in a 1-1 draw against South Africa, Doyle is in high spirits when it comes to his country.

He said: "I've been playing well for Ireland and putting in good performances but that was my first goal for them for a while – Robbie Keane's been getting all the goals.

"But to be captain was unbelievable. I was sitting in the hotel bedroom and the security guy came and told me I had to go to the captain's press conference in two hours time. He said 'the manager told me to tell you,' that was the first he knew about it. It was nice I got to tell my family. They weren't going to the game as they thought I wasn't playing.

"I'd played the qualifier and this was a friendly where the manager was making changes. Because four of five lads had been sent back to their clubs who had 60, 70 or 80 caps, I was next in line.

"To get the captain's armband with my family there was unbelievable. My family were really proud and I'll look back on it in years to come and be proud of it.

"The boss Giovanni Trapattoni is one of the best managers in the history of football so I felt so proud in the car to the press conference knowing he'd picked me as captain and hearing 'El Kapitano'.

"It was a great feeling and it was nice he chose me."

While not such a heavy scorer at international level as his strike partner, the former Wolves striker Keane, Doyle believes their partnership is better than ever.

He said: "We're better together now than we've ever been. Robbie gets plenty of goals. I'd like to get a few more but I'm playing up front for different reasons and for many things I do.

"Different teams play different ways – with Ireland I'm used more to winning balls. But I love playing under this manager though.

"He's had so much success but he makes stuff simple. It's the same off the pitch too, for instance even how we dress.

"Before he came in, if we went for a walk before a game, one player might have worn flip-flops, one might have been in shorts and another would wear a tracksuit.

"Now if we're not all wearing the same stuff, we have to go back upstairs. He's a very nice man and he calls us all by our surnames.

"Mick McCarthy asks me how it is with Ireland, he'll ask me about what the manager says and he's interested to find out I suppose."

Doyle is also looking forward to stepping out in front of a capacity 75,000 crowd at Croke Park.

He said: "Playing at Croke Park is a bit stranger than Lansdowne Road. The fans are further away because of the Gaelic pitch."

Now Doyle is looking for the Irish squad to emulate the rugby squad by qualifying for a major tournament again.

He said: "The rugby team have done it for a while now and it would be nice if the football team could bring back some of the memories now."