BEN RAMAGE
Saints defender Conor McCarthy hopes impressing in the stripes will see him one day step up to represent his national team.
The ex- Cork City skipper moved to St Mirren in January and spent this week with the Ireland under-21s at a training camp in Northern Ireland.
The driven centre back hopes that he can play his way into the senior side by leading St Mirren to a strong Premiership campaign.
Speaking exclusively to Express Sport, the 22-year-old said: “It’s every boy’s dream to be involved in their international set-up.
“Of course, I’d love to make it into my national team.
“It would be foolish of me to say I wouldn’t like to be involved with Ireland.
“First and foremost, the club is the most important thing at the moment.
“If you’re doing well on the pitch and your team is doing well, then I think everything else goes hand in hand.
“It’s definitely a positive sign that other Irish players have done well in Scotland and made it into the national team.
“Playing week in, week out is the main goal for me at the moment and, as long as I’m doing that and the team’s doing well, then we’ll see what happens down the line.”
McCarthy had been set to spend the international break in Scotland, where he feared he’d be left dwelling on a disappointing last result against St Johnstone.
And he revealed the atmosphere in the dressing room in Perth after that defeat would have disheartened any Saints fan.
He said: “The St Johnstone game was very, very frustrating.
“If you’d gone into the dressing room after the game, you’d have seen that everyone was just absolutely deflated.
“There was absolutely no talk because, at the end of the day, we knew we’d come there hoping to build on the good start we’ve made.
“Obviously, that didn’t materialise and we were just flat from start to finish.
“We were coming to Perth to build on positive performances we’d produced already and now we have to wait a long time to put it right.
“It was one of those games where nothing seemed to go right for us and we have to take that on the chin and move on.”
McCarthy found himself at the centre of an unfamiliar back three as the team reshuffled in Joe Shaughnessy’s absence.
The determined defender refused to blame the tactical switch though, insisting that he and his teammates simply have to put things right next weekend when they face Jack Ross’ Hibs in Paisley.
He added: “We’re well prepared in training every week.
“Even the guys that came on are welldrilled and know their responsibilities, so I don’t think the formation played any part in the performance in Perth.
“Especially with a performance like that, the international break just gives you even more time to wait to put it right,
“A lot of the boys wish we had been playing the next day, but I’m sure, once we’re back in training next week, we’ll work hard and put it right in our next stretch of games again.”