NATIONAL DU TY CALLS
Accies starlet given Scotland U-21 start in Slovakia
Eamonn Brophy is delighted to have been given the chance to show what he can do in a Scotland Under-21 shirt, and said there are others at Hamilton who are ready to make the step-up.
Brophy (20) was handed a debut in Scot Gemmill’s attack for the friendly in Slovakia yesterday (Wednesday), alongside Accies midfielder Greg Docherty.
Docherty was named in Gemmill’s first squad after taking over from Ricky Sbragia in September but Brophy makes his first step-up to Scotland’s U-21 level.
Striker Brophy is delighted for the recognition, and hopes to be involved in more squads. He said: “It’s always a great honour to represent your country at any age group, so I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good opportunity to try and show what I can do, and to stay in among it.
“I was disappointed not to be involved in the last squad, because I was in around it, but this time I’m in, so it’s my opportunity to go and show what I can do. Greg Docherty has been excellent, he’s been playing in the Hamilton first team every week, so he deserved to be in the last squad.
“I think we’re involved because we have been given the opportunity to play first-team football. Myself and Greg are 20-years-old but have about 50 appearances under our belts, so I think they’ve just started to take notice of that. It’s great for us and for the club.”
Brophy has previous recognition with Scotland squads but hopes to use the under-21 experience as a stepping stone to the first team.
He said: “I’ve been in [the squad] at 18s and 19s, so I’ve been in the last few age groups, but there are a lot of players here who are talented, not just me, Greg, or even Darren Lyon – there are a lot of younger guys like Ryan Tierney and guys like that as well, who I feel should be in and around it as well. It’s great to get this recognition though, because it gives other guys confidence that if they are playing well enough they can get things like this.
“You dream of it, as a young boy, to pull on the Scotland strip so, under-21s is a phase you need to go through to get into the first team. I’m just delighted to get into the 21s and I’m looking forward to it.”
Brophy’s opportunities with Hamilton this season have been fairly limited, but he urged boss Martin Canning to wind him up and watch him go, and hopes to be the guy to fire Accies up the Premiership table.
“At the start of the season I got injured, which was unfortunate,” he said. “I missed a bit of pre-season before I got back, but hopefully I can try and make a difference when I come on.
“I want to be playing every week. I feel good now, so hopefully I can play my way into the team and stay in it, and if I can get a run I hope I can start scoring goals.”