Stephen Ward will continue giving his all for Wolves in the wake of a surprise omission from the Republic of Ireland squad for tonight's friendly with Brazil.

Given his impressive form as a left back over the last season-and-a-half, and the fact that in recent weeks he has been the only Irishman in that position playing regularly in the Barclays Premier League, observers across the Irish Sea had expected Ward to land his first senior call-up at the Emirates Stadium.

But the under-21 and 'B' international was overlooked in favour of 19-year-old Manchester City full back Greg Cunningham, who only has an FA Cup appearance as substitute to his name in senior football.

Ward however has quickly put the omission to the "back of his mind", with the priority trying to help Wolves preserve their top flight status.

"I looked at the squad because I knew it was named on the Monday and I was disappointed not to be in it," he said.

"It would have been nice to have seen my name, but I quickly put it to the back of my mind.

"My priority is Wolves and trying to help us stay in the Premier League first and foremost.

"But when people have asked me about it, I got a sense of what it would be like to be selected.

"All I'll be doing is keeping plugging away and trying to do things right for the club and if I carry on doing that and working hard, hopefully I will get a chance.

"It's one of those things - I wasn't too upset about it - I had a look at the squad and moved on."

And when it comes to that fight for club survival, Ward believes they can still win that race despite Saturday's disappointing 1-0 defeat at Bolton.

"It's the hardest league to stay in and every club down there is finding it the same," he added.

"No team down there is any better than us and we have as good a chance as anyone.

"It's important to stick together on the pitch so we can get as many points as possible.

"We've got a couple of players coming back now too so we feel we can kick on over the next few weeks.

"It's still a young squad and we're learning all the time.

"The gaffer has brought a lot of youth and hunger and hopefully we can prove the depth of that hunger by staying in the Premier League."

Kevins Doyle and Foley are both in the squad for tonight's game, but Andy Keogh missed out as he was still recovering from injury when it was announced.