STEPHEN Ward cherished Burnley’s latest promotion as one of his career highlights and he wants to cap a memorable six months by making Ireland proud in the European Championship.

Ward was a peripheral figure for the Clarets until Christmas, playing just 12 minutes of league football in the first 23 Championship games of the campaign.

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But Ben Mee’s move inside to the heart of the defence allowed Ward in at left-back and he was an ever-present in the second half of the campaign as Burnley stormed to the title.

That return to first-team football cemented Ward’s place in Martin O’Neill’s 23-man squad for Euro 2016, and having had a season to remember for his club he is hoping to repeat the trick for his country in France.

“It was one of the biggest achievements of my career,” the 30-year-old said of the Clarets’ promotion.

“It’s difficult when you get relegated because you know you’re a scalp and teams want to turn you over.

“Last year we gave it a right go but came up a little bit short. To come back the way we have this season is unbelievable. Nobody really fancied us to do what we’ve done, we’ve proved everyone wrong as we keep doing.”

Ward was promoted to the Premier League with Wolves seven years ago and he made 72 appearances for the Midlands side in the top flight.

Wolves won the Championship title that term, something matched by Burnley this season, and Ward is keen to make the most of the Clarets’ success ahead of the new campaign.

“It’s a different team, but I’m more experienced and older, you cherish it more now,” he said.

“Sometimes you can let these moments pass you by, so it’s important we remember days like those.”

The former Brighton man played all three of Ireland’s group games at the European Championships in 2012, and he scored his third international goal in Tuesday night’s friendly defeat to Belarus.

The Republic didn’t earn a point four years ago but Ward is confident they can improve on that this time around against Italy, Belgium and Sweden in Group E.

“It’s exciting,” Ward added of Euro 2016. “First and foremost we want to go there and be competitive and hopefully get out of our group and see where that takes us.”

Ward has exchanged some ‘tongue in cheek’ messages with Tom Heaton and Sam Vokes, who will head to Euro 2016 with England and Wales, and he is relishing playing in a tournament so close to home, with thousands of Irish fans expected to cross the Channel.

“I think the atmosphere will be great. With it being in France there will be a lot of fans over there and it will be a great spectacle,” said Ward, who revealed his first Ireland memories were street parties from the 1990 World Cup when he was five.

“We’re delighted to have qualified because it’s a privilege to be in a tournament like this and hopefully we can do ourselves proud.

“I think half the country will probably be over there. They’ll get their summer over there.”