Doyle determined to qualify

Kevin Doyle has called on Ireland to take their chance and qualify for the World Cup.

Ireland are currently joint top of Group Eight ahead of the forthcoming games against Bulgaria and Italy.

The Reading striker Doyle believes Ireland are well-placed to qualify for South Africa next year and he wants the team to build on their impressive start to qualifying.

"It's the chance to qualify for a World Cup coming towards the end of a season where we have set ourselves up very well," said Doyle.

"We have got ourselves into a great position and we need to keep that going in the next two games to keep that excitement alive.

"We have put ourselves in a great position to possibly go to a World Cup which is only a little over 12 months away now.

Touching distance
"It's within touching distance and we want to keep ourselves in this position.

"We are going to try to win this group if we can. Why not? We have put ourselves in a position with half of it to go, so why not?

"We don't want to give Bulgaria that chance to get back into the meat of the group and get back challenging for the top two places.

"We have set ourselves up very nicely at this stage and we need to keep that going by getting a result against them.

"It won't be easy - they have probably been more successful over the last number of years than us.

"They are a good team, but we are confident and we think we can get a result.

"They still have to play us twice, so they can see it as their way back into the group. It would be nice to keep them pegged back there and keep our little run going."