'She's the proper athlete in the family' – O'Dowda proud of medal-winning sister

Callum O’Dowda has had a busy summer, making the move across the England-Wales border, changing clubs from Bristol City to Severnside derby rivals Cardiff City.

Six years with the Robins, the player admitted that he needed a change and a new challenge, following an injury-hit campaign last season, and he has certainly made an immediate impact at his new club, impressing the initially ambivalent Bluebird supporters with some excellent early performances for his new club.

Primarily playing on the left of a front three, O’Dowda has also shown his versatility by lining out in a number of other roles throughout the early season, and he has obviously impressed Ireland manager Stephen Kenny, who brought him back into the squad for the upcoming double-header against Scotland on Saturday and Armenia three days later.

Kenny has always made a point of name-checking the attack-minded midfielder when discussing options that were unavailable, and such has been the case throughout the injury-plagued recent seasons, it has been two years since O’Dowda last played a game for his country.

'She's the proper athlete in the family' Callum O'Dowda is back in the Ireland squad, for the first time since his sister Jade won bronze for England in the heptathlon at the commonwealth Games#rtesoccer pic.twitter.com/Bb6mtqOS1Y

But O’Dowda, like Robbie Brady, is looking to make up for lost time and show his attacking qualities on the international scene, hoping to be involved over the next seven days.

"I'm feeling really good," said O’Dowda, speaking at Monday’s press conference. "It has been quite a while and it always seems that when the international break comes around, I was in the middle of a long-term injury.

"I had a hamstring operation and I've had a