Aaron Connolly says he can improve on his first senior international outing.

He would love to be involved in a “cup final” against Denmark to decide Euro 2020 qualification.

And he reckons he should already have his first goal for Mick McCarthy’s men.

But, if he gets time, the 19-year-old from Galway can reflect that he has come an awful long way this season already.

He certainly need not too downhearted about still having ambitions to fulfil.

Connolly scored what will probably prove to have been his last goal for his club’s under-23s as recently as August 23, at Leicester.

He opened the season with two for the 23s against Wolves on August 12.

Two months later to the day, he was close to snatching a winner for his country’s senior side in a qualifier in Georgia.

His brief but explosive appearance in Tbilisi that afternoon meant he then started for the Republic in Geneva on Tuesday.

That match was just seven weeks to the day after his first senior goal for his club, in a Carabao Cup tie at Bristol Rovers.

Connolly has spoken of the dream-come-true nature of his various Premier League landmarks and now playing international football.

But he comes across not so much as a dreamer as a driven, maybe hard-to-please, character always looking for the next achievement to fulfil.

That was certainly the case in Geneva on Tuesday.

To a suggestion that his first international start was a big occasion for him, he replied: “It was, but it ended in disappointment again after the last game and the missed chances.

“It’s disappointing because I felt I could have done a bit more, maybe.

“It’s obviously a tough night, but it’s a proud night as well.

“They are a good team. They pressed us back and it was tough for the lads to get up and play off me.

“I just had to do what I could, but it probably wasn’t enough. It’s a disappointing result.

“We put in a good second-half performance, I think, and maybe deserved a draw.

“We didn’t get that, so we just need to move on now to November, pick up the three points and then that’s all forgotten about and we qualify.”

Defeat by the Swiss means the Irish must beat Denmark during the next set of international fixtures to qualify.

Connolly will almost certainly be in the squad if fit, although the expected return of David McGoldrick will increase competition.

The Irish also have a friendly against New Zealand before tackling what McCarthy calls “a cup final in the Aviva on November 18”.

There are four Premier League games between now and then and it will be intriguing to see how Connolly progresses during that time.

After so much has happened in such a short period, will Connolly’s progress plateau for a while? Will he have a quiet spell?

Or, having seen what he can do at this level, does he immediately go from strength to strength?

That disappointment at not scoring straight away for his country matched similar sensations with his club in the Premier League.

He had to show a bit of persistence before breaking his duck at home to Spurs.

Maybe the same will be true with the Republic.

Connolly would love to feature against Denmark.

He said: “It’s a cup final, it’s a huge three points on the line, so there’s going to be a big push.”

It will also mark a year since he scored a hat-trick for Albion under-21s against MK Dons.

Connolly was frowning as he posed for a photo with the matchball that night because he knew Albion had narrowly failed to progress from the group.

Maybe qualification will come this time - with the Irish in the Euros.

But there is much to think about with his club as his career is just beginning.

A first away Prem start could be the next landmark