Perth born and raised O’Neill is eligible to represent both Australia and Ireland through his background. Both of his parents were born in Dublin and the 24-year-old has an Irish passport.

O’Neill was previously linked to the Green Army under namesake boss Martin O’Neill, but he has been axed and at the end of November was replaced by McCarthy.

With the Sky Blues man seemingly behind Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo, Jackson Irvine, Musti Amini and James Jeggo in the Socceroos’ central midfield pecking order, O’Neill could turn to Ireland.

But he has yet to receive a call from the former Sunderland, Wolves and Ipswich manager.

"Not just yet. It’s hard with the time difference,” O’Neill joked to FTBL.

"That’s another aspiration for me, playing for a national team. I’d be forever honoured and humbled to play for the Irish national team or for Australia, with my family and friends having ties with both countries.

"That’s something else I’ll have to look at when the opportunity arises. I can only control literally what I can do and that’s wake up every morning and try and be the best I can every day.

"Sleep well, eat right and do all the things and more that a professional footballer should be doing."

O'Neill has played every game of the A-League season for Sydney FC with the club third on the table.

The midfielder has been happy with the Sky Blues' start but believes they can get better.

"It’s been really good," he said. "We’ve started the season extremely well – getting to an FFA Cup final, winning some tough games on the road and been in and around the top of the league for a while.

"It’s a pleasing start but there’s a to improve on and get better at. We’re looking forward to getting better and achieving success. It’s a good start but we believe we can get a lot better."

O'Neill said new coach Steve Corica has not changed much since taking over at Sydney FC from Graham Arnold.

"A lot of things, in terms of the club, how we operate, how we go into a game, how we train, a lot of that has stayed the same, which is really good because its bred success in the past," he said.

"We have a really good culture here, winning is what we’re focused on and that’s what we want to do. We also want an environment where you can succeed both individally and as a team. Bimbi’s a lot quieter person than Arnie, he has his own way of getting points across.

"But he’s very knowledgable, he’s such a good person as well to work under. The people that we’ve brought in this season have only added to the quality of Sydney FC, both as players and as people."