St Johnstone boss Tommy Wright is keeping an eye on the football league in his homeland, as the January transfer window starts to loom ever larger.
The Northern Irishman took in the Belfast derby between Crusaders and Cliftonville on Saturday, with a “couple of players” being checked out.
The Irish Premiership is a division Wright knows well, and he is open to the idea of bringing fellow countrymen across the water to Perth.
“It’s a decent standard,” he pointed out. “It gave me a chance to get home and also a chance to watch a couple of players.
“The lad (Liam) Boyce went to Ross County. There are a couple of young players that are worth having a look at and keeping an eye on. Crusaders v Cliftonville was a good game.
“They are part-time players, but the standard is quite high. There’s people who have been in England and released as younger players.
“And you have the older players like Ivan Sproule at Linfield and Sammy Morrow who played in the Scottish league and in England.
“There’s quite a range of talent. Players that have been at a high level and have come down levels. Then young players who have been at Premier League clubs in England and are trying to get a career again.
“Young Jude Winchester that was at Kilmarnock last year was playing for Cliftonville on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Wright reported that a number of minor injuries are beginning to clear up.
“Murray (Davidson) will train today,” he explained. “James (McFadden) will train later on in the week, he’s not come back in yet. It was the right decision not to play him at Dundee.
“But there’s no concerns for Saturday, he’s working with the physio and will return to full training this week.
“David Wotherspoon and Gary McDonald have picked up slight strains but should return to full training tomorrow or by Thursday. Hopefully, by the middle of week, we’ll have everyone fit and ready for selection.
“That’s the last of the breaks until February or March now. We try to use the break wisely and it gives us the chance to watch games in the lower leagues.
“The players work hard but also get a few days off and come back ready to go again and build-up to an important game on Saturday.”
When the season resumes against Ross County, Wright believes his St Johnstone team will be a confident one.
He said: “Partick was a good point that stopped the run.
“Then we had good win against Motherwell where we showed a lot of character. And again showed a lot of character against Dundee. At half-time most people would have thought there would only be one winner.
“We turned it round in the second half and we have something to build-on. It’s a start, we’re not getting carried away. We’ve got a home game against Ross County in the league and then the cup, and then away to St Mirren.
“We just need to make sure we turn up and have the second half performance that we had against Dundee, against Ross County.”