Owen Elding opens up on Ireland call-up, England interest, and Mason Melia rivalry
Owen Elding: “Growing up in Sligo most of my life, it’s all I know so it'd be a dream to put on a green shirt.” Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Owen Elding’s Ireland career was awoken straight after a night’s sleep.
Tuesday, May 5 started as a normal day for the 20-year-old striker in Edinburgh, the alarm waking him for a day’s training ahead at Hibernian.
Except he was tipped off about an important imminent phone call from the Ireland manager.
Heimir Hallgrímsson was about to announce his squad for the May friendly against Grenada but aware questions would arise about Elding’s status.
Specifically, amid media reports of England’s interest, whether he was fully on board.
Born in Boston, England, the forward has spent the vast majority of his life living in Ireland.
Residency bestowed Irish citizenship eligibility but fuel protests in April led to the cancellation of his confirmation ceremony.
Within that vacuum, allied to his stunning start to life as a Hibs player, news of England’s query about his allegiance surfaced.
“I literally just got out of bed and he (Hallgrímsson) said ‘are you free for a chat?,’” explained Elding. “So I jumped in the shower quickly and gave him a call.
“He said there was a press conference coming up shortly and could he say I was committed or not?
“There was a bit of interest (from England) but my full focus was on club football at that moment, performing well at Hibs and whatever came, came.
“To be fair, my full focus was always getting into the Ireland team.
“Growing up in Sligo most of my life, it’s all I know so it'd be a dream to put on a green shirt.”
Elding has only been able to don the Ireland training shirt in this camp.
The Ireland manager wasn’t letting a paperwork hiccup delaying the inclusion of a player who’d never been able to represent Ireland at any level.
He was on the bench for Thursday’s 1-0 win over Qatar and continued with the party to Montreal on Saturday afternoon. He’s adamant Friday’s game in Canada is the last he’ll be an inactive observer.
A four-game Uefa Nations League window is scheduled from September 14 to October 4.
“I was itching to get on the pitch on Thursday but I don't have the passport yet, which is unfortunate,” noted the son of former Sligo Rovers and Cork City attacker Anthony Elding.
“That should be resolved quite soon. I've got the ceremony for the naturalisation at the end of June, so possibly middle or end of July, it should be all sorted.
“Bringing me into the squad shows the manager has big ambitions for me. Getting this taste of international football will only help me in my club as well, giving me that confidence to go on and kick on.”
Elding and Mason Melia have shared the League of Ireland young player of the year awards in the past two seasons. There’s a good chance they could be paired for Ireland, after Melia made his debut last week as a late substitute.
“Mason pushed me every week when I was at Sligo because we were battling for the young player of the year and top goalscorer in the league,” he said of the former St Patrick’s Athletic tyro.
“Whenever I'd scored, I'd go on and check if Mason had scored. Then I'd find out he'd scored two.
“It's always good competition between us two so coming in here and working alongside him here has been great.”
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