Aberdeen striker Adam Rooney hopes for call from Ireland

Adam Rooney has hit his personal target for the season but he isn’t downing tools.

Instead, the Aberdeen striker has set the bar even higher, hoping to land a dream international call-up.

Rooney started the season looking for a 25-goal return.

He reached that mark seven weeks ago then challenged himself to hit 30.

When he notched his 27th, he claimed a career-high haul. With three games to go, he is three strikes away from his new target.

It’s clear he is in the form of his career and, inevitably, talk of a Republic of Ireland call-up has grown louder as a result.

But while the Dons hit-man admits joining up with his country for the first time at senior level would be a huge honour, he has no idea what his chances are.

And that, he says, means his only hope of joining Martin O’Neill’s squad is to keep finding the net for Aberdeen.

“There are a lot of Irish players scoring,” said Rooney.

“Look at the English Championship where Daryl Murphy has scored a lot for Ipswich and Eoin Doyle’s got plenty for Cardiff and he’s not even in the squad.

“There are a lot to pick from and it would be great to get a chance, but if it doesn’t happen, I’ll keeping doing my best here.

“I just concentrate on doing my job for Aberdeen and if I can keep on scoring, then you never know.

“It’s a great honour to play for your country and I’d love to do it at senior level.

“I played for the 17s through to the 21s and I was very proud to do that and hopefully the chance will come along.”

The Dons are desperate to claim their first victory of the season over champions Celtic today.

According to Rooney, doing so would give them real hope for next season.

He said: “If you take away the 4-0 defeat at Celtic Park when we chased the game after going two goals down and they picked us off, then we have been close.

“We want to win any game, regardless of the opposition, and have shown consistency against other teams.

“So if we can get a positive result against Celtic, that’ll go a long way.

“Hopefully we can add to the squad in the summer and go again next season.”