It is not difficult to trace the precise moment where Kevin Doyle's season graduated from the consistent to the consistently brilliant. A 0-0 draw against Liverpool at Molineux may not, on the face of it, be the most obvious occasion for an attacking player to have laid down a marker but the 26-year-old's efforts as a lone striker on that late January evening have proved to be the first link in a chain of performances that have seen Doyle's reputation rise inexorably over the past two months. "I doubt if there's ever been a better centre-forward display at Molineux than that," said Mick McCarthy – a man known for blunt honesty and dripping sarcasm but not hyperbole – that night. "You can check through all the archives down the years but I doubt it. That was an absolute classic by Doyle. He's run Liverpool's two centre-halves ragged on his own. I thought he was brilliant."

That performance against Liverpool has now become the Doyle standard, an impressive mix of effort, determination and guile. The starting point of the player's recent excellence has been his willingness to run about with the zest of a Tasmanian Devil and not take Dimitar Berbatov-type strategic breaks while the game is on-going. But there is much more to this game than just running alone. Doyle, thanks to his superb close control, can make even a half-decent ball up to him stick and his ability in the air is of sufficient quality for him to act as a traditional target man as much as a lone striker operating down the channels.

Once on the ball, he doesn't let himself or his team down either. The Wexford native can win a free-kick – he is the most fouled Wolves player this season – pick a pass to a teammate or embark on the type of meandering dribbles that are fast becoming his trademark. Allied to all this is a deceptive speed over ten yards that has left many defenders back on their heels.

Steve Bull, a Wolves legend who scored 250 goals for the club in 474 appearances over 13 years, has certainly been wowed by the Irish international. "Doyle is a great player," he says. "I've been a striker all my life, I have watched strikers, I would put him in the Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea sides all day long. He is a worker, he has got great pace, the ball sticks to his feet and defenders are frightened to tackle him in the box because he's that quick."

A penny, in all this, for Giovanni Trapattoni's thoughts. As he sits back home in Milan watching DVD after DVD of Doyle's efforts in the Premier League, and then turns to clips of Robbie Keane scoring against Kilmarnock or St Johnstone, it would be interesting to know who he views as his top striker? The Italian has never hidden his admiration for Doyle and seemed to catch on to the player's quality pretty early on in his reign. Just as you'd expect a manager of his calibre to do, really.

But in the World Cup qualifying campaign, he quite clearly viewed Doyle as the frontline's junior operative given that he was the one asked to do the donkey work, the one in place to take the bumps and bruises, rather than the striker feeding off the knock-downs. It was a reasonable role to ask him to play at the time when you consider that Doyle only had a handful of caps in relation to Keane and was plying his trade in the Championship with Reading. Truth is, however, that kind of logic no longer applies. In fact, it has been turned completely on its head. Who's the junior partner now?

Before Trapattoni effectively casts his judgment on that debate through his selection, and indeed utilisation, of Ireland's striking resources for the European Championship qualifiers in September, this summer's transfer market will give an indication of the relative worth of both. Keane's future looks decidedly uncertain. He is unlikely to stay at Celtic given that they won't be able to afford his transfer fee, or indeed wages, and his future at Tottenham must be in some doubt. Remember, it was his decision to leave the club for Scotland in January; Harry Redknapp was quite happy to have him around.

But instead of knuckling down, working hard and waiting for his opportunity, he decided that being guaranteed an automatic starting place in an inferior league was more important to him than earning his place at a higher level. Roman Pavlyuchenko's recent goal-splurge provides evidence that all was not lost for Keane at Tottenham in January, but considering his willingness to jump ship when the going got tough, it probably is now. He will move on but nobody is quite sure where. Aston Villa? Everton? You certainly cannot see him going anywhere higher in English football's pecking order. It will be interesting to see where he'll be playing next season.

And likewise in the case of Doyle. The biggest worry in the life of your average Wolves supporter right now is not whether the club will stay in the Premier League – one more win should be enough to do that – but whether their best player will be at the club next year. McCarthy hasn't entirely ruled out the player's departure. "Look, when someone plays well, that goes with the territory. I never lose any sleep about anything like that, because I can't do anything about it. It doesn't concern me at all. Doyley came here and is loving it and, if we stay up, we are a Premier League club and he would still be loving it. But if someone like a Manchester United come in and ask and offer, it is bloody hard work then, isn't it?"

Perhaps McCarthy is stretching things a little by suggesting that United will be in for Doyle in the summer, but his performances have been so good this season that you cannot help but wonder what he might be capable of producing, particularly on the scoring front, with a bit more quality around him. Doyle has managed seven league goals so far this season, a tally which represents precisely a quarter of Wolves's Premier League goals before yesterday's game at Arsenal. Only the likes of Wayne Rooney, with 36 per cent of United's league total, and Didier Drogba, with 32 per cent of Chelsea's, post similar ratios. If he can transfer that strike rate to a side scoring more goals, Doyle really will be in business. But while a move to United, Chelsea or Arsenal is most probably out of the question, there's no reason why the likes of Aston Villa, Everton and perhaps Tottenham – two teams who like to play with a lone striker and another considering it - won't be interested in him this summer.

Ireland's number one striker? Doyle appears to be on his way up, Keane on his way down but that's a matter of conjecture. Ultimately, this summer's transfer market will decide.

ccronin@tribune.ie

Robbie Keane

Age 29 Clubs Wolves, Coventry, Inter Milan, Leeds, Tottenham, Liverpool, Tottenham, Celtic

Accumulated transfer fees £75million

Club appearances/Goals 515/199

Club goals per game ratio 1 every 2.58 games

International appearances/Goals 97/41

International goals per game ratio 1 every 2.36 games

International appearances as captain 33

Kevin Doyle

Age 26 Clubs St Patrick's Athletic, Cork City, Reading, Wolves

Accumulated transfer fees £6.65million

Club appearances/Goals 279/88

Club goals per game ratio 1 every 3.17 games

International appearances/Goals 33/7

International goals per game ratio 1 every 4.71 games

International appearances as captain 1