Make no mistake, though.

If it wasn't Thursday and he didn't have to rest up for yesterday's game against Leeds, the prospect of an afternoon's labour in the club gym would hardly turn a hair on him.

Before his sending-off yesterday, the most common reaction in his new home to Paul McShane is a puff of the cheeks and a testimonial to his work ethic. Listen to him talk for a while and you almost find it hard to believe that the straight-talking, nononsense redhead sitting across from you is the least experienced member of the Ireland squad Steve Staunton announced on Monday.

For instance. You mention that you'd heard tell that he wasn't exactly what you'd call a party animal. That there was little enough chance of, say, finding him bleary-eyed in a nightclub. No chance, in fact, since you'd also heard that a drink never passes his lips. And after a brief protest that he likes a night out as much as the next man when the occasion calls for it . . . he is only 20 after all, and it wouldn't be fair to rob him of his Dude credentials right off the bat . . . he fesses up.

"I'd sacrifice anything to be a top footballer, to be honest, " he says. "Since as far back as I can remember growing up, I've been sacrificing things to be a footballer and I think your attitude's a very important part of it. I just want to try and give myself the best possible chance to become the best and every inch counts in that."

You must have come across a few players down the years who haven't made it because their attitude wasn't right?

"I have, yeah. I've met a lot of them. It's mad . . . when you're younger you see some of these lads that you play with and you think to yourself that this fella or that fella is going to be some player, the next best thing. But it's just unbelievable some of the players who've fallen by the wayside. Some from Ireland, some from Man United. I think with a few of them, the pressure got too much and they didn't put it in. It is a hard sport and you've got to be dedicated and you've got to give it your all or you're going to be left behind."

The reason we're sitting in Birmingham rather than Manchester is the same reason he's getting ready to join up with the Ireland squad rather than gearing up for another week of reserve duty for United. That fear of getting left behind. That need to give it his all. When he joined West Brom as a makeweight in the deal that brought the Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak to Old Trafford during the transfer window, it was assumed that United finally decided to cut the cord.

Truth is, he'd lifted the scissors and done it himself.

He had the choice of United and Leeds as a 15-year-old and though he had concerns about the size of the club he plumped for, he fancied his chances. Not without reason, either. By 17, he'd won an FA Youth Cup with them; by 18, he'd made his first-team debut in a pre-season game against Bayern Munich in Chicago. But between one thing and another, it didn't work out.

Luck could have been a little kinder. A few months after his debut, he was on the ferry back to Ireland, on his way to driving home to Kilpedder in Wicklow for Christmas. He got a phone call to say that Walsall wanted him to come to them on loan for a while and could he be back in England by lunchtime the following day. So all he had time to do was drive home, spend a night, ditch the car and get an early flight back. Sacrifices.

"But I went there and played over the Christmas period which was quite hectic . . . four games in 12 days. But I went with a little bit of a niggle from playing a reserve game with United and it blew up on me. I felt my hip flexor a little bit and it got worse and worse. I went back to United for treatment and that ended the loan spell there and then."

He'd done well in the four games, even managing to get forward and score a goal on his debut against Sheffield Wednesday. But the hip injury kept him out of the game for two months so instead of impressing and having good reports sent back to United, he was working alone in the gym, trying to get fit. By the time he did, the season was fizzling out and all he had to pass the time were a few reserve games.

But the four games had given him a taste. A taste of crowds, of tannoys, of three o'clock starts and three points on the board. He knew that if he was ever to experience that at Old Trafford, he'd have to spend a season away somewhere and do it week in and week out. So he moved to Brighton on loan last season.

Ended up being voted their Player of the Year by both the official supporters club and by visiting fans. When he arrived back at United, though, his season away didn't carry the currency he'd thought it would.

"I was hoping to get a chance when I went back to Man United. I'd played 41 league games and got the Player of the Year things and I was thinking that it was a pretty good thing to be going back with. A lot of other United players went out on loan last season and some of them didn't play or whatever. So I was thinking that I've probably done one of the best out of all the 'loanies'. But then I went back to United and just didn't get the chance to step in and to prove myself and to get a real fair crack of the whip.

"I knew I had to keep progressing. I'd been there a while and I'd seen some of the players who'd gone out on loan come back to United and get stuck in the reserves.

I was thinking to myself that I didn't want to take a backward step. I've always wanted to progress in my career and this was the next step really. I went into Alex Ferguson and spoke to him about taking the next step [with United]. But it didn't happen and so this is what I had to do.

I handed in the transfer request. I had to do it to keep progressing."

And he has. A run in the side over the past month made his red dot flash up on Staunton's radar and led to the barrage of text messages that greeted him when he came in from training on Monday morning. Whatever else the move will bring . . . and with what's generally regarded as being among the top three squads in the Championship, it really ought to bring promotion to the Premiership . . . there's no doubt whatsoever that he owes his international elevation to it.

He wouldn't be flying to Cyprus on Wednesday if he was still a United reserve.

"It's been a really hectic few months. From being frustrated at Man United to being called up to the Ireland squad, you just couldn't have written it any better. The Ireland squad has always been my aim, it's what I've always wanted to do more than anything. It's only a short career and the more challenges you have the better. That's the way I look at it."

It's the only way that's worked for anyone so far.