RORY McArdle will keep chasing the dream of a place in the Euro 2016 finals with Northern Ireland – even though he admits it is a long shot.

The Bantams player of the year was on the bench when Michael O’Neill’s men clinched qualification to next summer’s showdown in France.

But he has not been called up for tomorrow night’s friendly against Latvia in Belfast.

McArdle knows he has only an outside chance of making the 23-man squad that will be named at the end of the season. But he is determined to keep his performance level high for City to cling on to that possibility.

The centre-half said: “I’m on the fringes of the squad. If you look at the players available to Michael in my department, it’s generally quite strong when everyone is fit.

“I know deep down that it’s going to be injuries or suspensions that give me a chance – that’s why I got the last call.

“But the fact that I might get the opportunity is there as well.

“It’s so important I keep performing week in, week out for Bradford and playing well enough. If that’s not happening you’re never going to get the option to be called into the squad.”

McArdle also has an eye on Northern Ireland’s future post-France with several of the experienced campaigners likely to go out on a high in the tournament before calling time on their international careers.

He added: “You look at the caps of the older boys like Aaron Hughes, Chris Baird and Gareth McAuley – Aaron’s nearly on 100. They deserve the recognition because it’s not always been successful for Northern Ireland over the last few years.

“They might think there is no time like the present to be leaving and hopefully they can upset a few at the finals.

“In the previous campaign, there was talk about Michael’s job. But he’s always stated that there’s a good core of players and once it clicks things will happen.

“He’s stuck with the players and they’ve stood by him and everyone is getting the rewards now.”

O’Neill’s side are the first fifth seed to win their qualifying group in the 56-year history of the Euros. They lost only once in ten games away to Romania.

McArdle said: “I don’t think people appreciate the achievement and the amount of points we accumulated.

“The fact that Greece didn’t perform as well as they should have done as the number one seed obviously helped.

“But I think that’s credit to the other nations in the group. Everyone took points off Greece.

“People talk about teams like the Faroe Islands and automatically think they are six points straight away. But they are hard to break down and let in very few goals.

“There were no gimmes and that’s what made it such a great effort to come out on top.

“To be part of it the night we qualified against Greece, see all the fans after the game and take it all in is something I will never forget.”

Meanwhile, uncapped City left back James Meredith could make his Australia debut against Kyrgyzstan in Canberra today.

Huddersfield Town’s Jason Davidson has been carrying a slight calf strain.

Should coach Ange Postecoglou decide not to risk him for the must-win FIFA World Cup qualifier at GIO Stadium, then Meredith will his international debut at the age of 27.

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