Craig Cathcart has had to drag himself off the beach for the Northern Ireland cause

Craig Cathcart hopes he has dragged himself off the beach to help Northern Ireland to a summer holiday in 12 months’ time.

The Watford defender has gathered for today’s friendly against Qatar in Crewe and more importantly for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Romania on June 12.

Michael O’Neill’s team have made a great start and victory over the Romanians at Windsor Park would see them leapfrog their opponents at the top of the group.

With only four matches after that, it would put the Irish in with a fantastic chance of reaching the finals in France.

Cathcart last played on May 2 as he helped Watford gain promotion to the Premier League, then enjoyed a quick holiday in Portugal.

Now he wants to get ready for a potentially pivotal occasion.

“Our season finished a few weeks ago, so you have to keep yourself ticking over, which I have done,” says Cathcart.

“But we have come back early to make sure we are in proper shape for a tough qualifier.

“This will give me and the other lads who finished early the chance to get our sharpness back, leading up to the biggest game I’ve been involved in for Northern Ireland.

“We’ve put ourselves in a great position. If we can get a positive result against Romania, it could put us in a great spot to qualify for a major tournament.

“That is what every footballer wants. It would be unbelievable if we got to France.”

Cathcart admits that he couldn’t have asked for a better season, even if it wasn’t one he could have expected.

He joined Watford last summer, played under four managers, but still helped the side to finish in the top two in the Championship.

He could well be meeting his fifth boss in a year by the time he reports back for pre-season, with current boss, Slavisa Jokanovic, having turned down a new contract.

“This time last year, I had just stayed up with Blackpool and my contract was up,” he recalls.

“A year down the line, I’ve been promoted to the Premier League, so the season couldn’t have gone any better.

“We were lucky that all of the managerial stuff happened early in the season and we managed to put that behind us.

“The last manager was there for seven months, which was a big period. We pushed up the league and then had a great end to the season.

“But a lot of credit has to go to the players.”