Adam Rooney rues Aberdeen sliding doors moment as he opens up on injury that ruined Ireland Euro 2016 dream

Adam Rooney has opened up on the series of injuries that ruined his chances of international recognition for the Republic of Ireland at EURO 2016.

The striker's red-hot form for Aberdeen in the previous season - in which he picked up the Premiership Golden Boot with 18 goals - had seen him called up for his country for the first time in May 2015 for a friendly against England and a EURO qualifier against Scotland. Fuelled by the support of Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes on either side, Rooney's goal-scoring exploits continued in the following season, and by February he had knocked up 19 goals in 27 league matches as Derek McInnes' Dons gave Celtic a run for their money for the title.

However, the Dublin-born player then picked up a serious hamstring injury in a 3-1 loss away to Inverness that saw him miss the next eight matches. Rooney briefly returned to score against Motherwell at the end of April, but ended up suffering a recurrence of the same injury problem that then kept him out of Aberdeen's final three games.

The 35-year-old, who now turns out for English sixth tier side Hereford as a player-coach, can't help but feel he would have been on the plane to France had he not been plagued by injury at a crucial time in the build-up to Ireland's second appearance at a major tournament for 14 years. Martin O'Neill's side enjoyed a successful run at the finals, claiming a famous 1-0 win against Italy in the group stage before falling to hosts France in the round of 16.

Speaking to Record Sport, he said: "I had got into the squad and managed to get on the bench a couple of times, but I was never able to actually step onto the pitch and win a cap. I was really unfortunate, as I done my quad around the time of the friendlies