Hibs transfer recruit compared with two ex Premier League strikers as he's backed to earn international reward

Hibs striker Owen Elding has been backed to become a full Republic of Ireland international - as he stands ahead of two prominent players of Irish past in his development to date.

The forward joined David Gray’s side from Sligo Rovers in January and netted his first goal at Easter Road in last weekend’s Premiership win over St Mirren. He moved to Hibs amid a breakout season in the League of Ireland last year and interest from other sides, and there are international hopes for Elding. Born in the UK, he moved to Ire­land in his early youth when dad, Anthony settled in Ire­land and featured with Sligo .

It’s hoped the Hibs striker’s Irish pass­port will be con­firmed soon to make him available for the U21s, and then the senior team if his career unfolds in a positive manner, where teammate Jamie McGrath has also been called up. Sligo Rovers’ Head of Academy, Conor O’Grady, worked with the winter recruit at Hibs from U15s level. He believes Elding is ahead of what ex-Premier League duo Shane Long and Kevin Doyle were at this stage in their development, and Elding has all the tools to reach international recognition.

Sligo Rovers on Owen Elding

O’Grady told The Sligo Champion: “Very proud, great goal as well. Delighted in his first start that he scored, that will help him settle in. Every­one was really happy for him in the academy and around the club. He’s a good hon­est lad and he’s been great for us when he was here. Hope­fully con­tin­ues for the rest of the sea­son. I think his humil­ity as well. He can score from any­where, we saw that last year.

“He can play in a few dif­fer­ent pos­i­tions, he’s a real team-player as well, he can play any­where. He’ll do it for the team before him­self. A lot of strikers can be selfish, and I’m not say­ing he isn’t selfish because he does like to score, but he’s a real team-player and does it for the group ahead of him­self. He’s com­pletely ded­ic­ated to his pro­fes­sion, and any­thing he gets he fully deserves.

“A spe­cial tal­ent who has a foot­ball brain, he can make goals and score goals. I really think the ceil­ing is really high for him. If he keeps scor­ing goals like last week I can see him going really high. Kevin Doyle and Shane Long played in the Premier League, I was for­tu­nate enough to play with the lads at Cork. I would say he’s ahead of those two at the same age.

Where can Owen Elding go in his career?

“It’s a bit of luck, it’s being in the right place at the right time, keep scor­ing goals, stay injury free, I think the next thing for him is to be an Irish inter­na­tional. Hope­fully we see that soon, with the 21s first. We’re all really proud of him and really happy for him. There was a few really good play­ers in that group.

“They were so young at the time, you couldn’t tell how far they’d go but you could see that they were excep­tional at that age. Great atti­tudes, great lads. Their work-rate, on and off the pitch, edu­ca­tion, they had it from an early age. They’ve con­tin­ued that.

“Our wins, we look at lads get­ting to the first team but lads being sold for fin­an­cial gain for the club, espe­cially lads who have come through the academy is a great plus for us. It’s easier to get play­ers in when they see there’s a path­way to the first team or even going across the water.”