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We have been banging on about James McClean for a while here on JOE and now he is showing everyone just how good he can be. Are you watching Trap?

The former Derry City player was finally given his shot by new Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill and he has proven to be an instant hit in the Premier League.

His first start last week saw Sunderland inflict a shock 1-0 defeat on league leaders Manchester City, with McClean tormenting them down the left-hand side of the pitch and he was even better last night.

Sunderland breezed past lowly Wigan 4-1 and McClean nabbed his first Premier League goal in the process.

As you can see below, the winger scored the Black Cats second, and while it took him two attempts, he won’t really care. His general play was excellent all game and he was heavily involved in the fourth as well, showing good skill and feet.

The question now is will he be able to keep it up and force his way into the Irish squad? We all know Trap is a fan of sticking with the tried and tested but we also know he is far from stupid.

McClean is big, strong and disciplined, three things we know Trap is a fan of. The Derry native is competing with Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff and Stephen Hunt down that left side so it won’t be easy but if anyone is going to make a late surge into the Irish squad, it must be McClean.

It was also good to see David Meyler come on in the second half as he works his way back to fitness, and John O’Shea was excellent again in the Sunderland defence.

Even Conor Sammon got on the scoresheet for Wigan, though the goal is still being given to Hugo Rodallega in some places.

This game is one DVD that Trap has to see this week.