Soccer:Latest Republic of Ireland recruit Simon Cox is looking forward to linking up with his new international team-mates this month after being included in the squad ahead of the Carling Nations Cup games and the Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.

The West Bromwich Albion striker is expected to get some game time against either Northern Ireland (May 24th) or Scotland (May 29th) and is grateful for the opportunity to make his Irish relatives “proud”.

Cox, 24, qualifies for Ireland through his Galway-born grandmother and sorted out his eligibility last week, with help from the FAI.

“Ireland had been showing the most interest in me,” he told today’s

Birmingham Mail

. “I got a call from one of the guys at the FAI to say they were thinking of calling me up. I went over to Ireland a few weeks ago (during the last international break) to see family and that and they were all asking me to play for them.

“I thought then that if Ireland came calling that it will be a dream. It goes a long way back in my family and it will make a lot of people proud. My nan is from a small area in Galway.

“My dad’s cousin’s husband got me doing a player appearance at a school as soon as I landed off the plane – it was his daughter’s school that I had to go to but he got me doing all sorts of stuff saying ‘this guy is going to play for Ireland’.

“But they (FAI) needed to trace back my family history to see exactly how I qualified to play for them.

“Once they had all that I was called on Thursday evening and I had to collect up my birth certificate, my mum and dad’s, and my nan and grandad’s, and send them over.”

The Reading-born player had to reschedule holidays to accommodate the call-up. A minor inconvenience, he insisted.

“I’d already booked my holidays and I’ve had to cancel one to Marbella and move one back to Dubai so I can go and play,” he said. “I was more than happy to do that.

“The chance to play international football is not something I want to pass up.”

Cox has featured increasingly often for Albion since the arrival of Roy Hodgson as manager. He had considered a loan move while Roberto Di Matteo was in charge but has enjoyed a ore prominent role of late and repaid the faith with a stunning equaliser against Spurs recently.

It was his first Premier League goal of the season, though he has scored more freely in the Carling Cup, with four in seven appearances.