Hibs star talks European dreams and World Cup aspirations as 'massive' Celtic test looms

Hibs defender Jack Iredale admits he’s finally allowing himself to enjoy “incredible” European dreams as the Easter Road side lead the race to finish third in the Scottish Premiership. And he’d love to tie up qualification with a statement win over Celtic in Glasgow on Saturday.

The Scots-born Aussie, a former Morton regular whose career down south took him from Carlisle and Cambridge United to Bolton Wanderers, joined Hibs on a “stressful” summer deadline day with the season already underway. Forced to bide his time in pursuit of playing time, the 29-year-old is now established as a cornerstone on the left of a back three.

With Hibs sitting third in the Scottish Premiership, three points clear of Aberdeen and six ahead of Dundee United, David Gray’s team remain favourites to finish Best of the Rest behind Scotland’s big two. Already all but guaranteed European football in some form, finishing third would – depending on Celtic winning the Scottish Cup – come with guaranteed Europa Conference League group stage football.

Iredale admitted: “Yeah, that would be absolutely incredible. And it's not really something I've ever thought about until I realised it might actually be achievable here. And then when you think it is achievable, it's something that you really want to do.

“Because even when you play at a good level down in England, it's not even part of the thought process. You play against some really massive teams down in England and it's frantic, it's Saturday and Tuesdays all the time and you're travelling all over the country.

“But when you come up here at a club the size of Hibs with the advantages of finishing high at the table and having a chance to play in Europe, it would be a dream. Incredible.

“But we're not getting ahead of ourselves. We know where we were four months ago, so we know how quickly it can turn.

Parkhead win would complete clean sweep at toughest away venues

“We've got three cup finals left to go, we've got a bit of a tough one this weekend at Parkhead and we'll see what happens there. The excitement's there, the confidence is there, but we know we need to keep our feet on the ground until what we want to achieve has been achieved.”

With wins at Ibrox, Tynecastle, Pittodrie and Tannadice all in books this season, Hibs could complete a clean sweep of Scottish football’s most traditionally difficult away days on Saturday. Building on their home win over Celtic in a campaign where the Hoops have beaten Hibs four times – twice in the league, as well as knocking Gray’s men out of the Scottish Cup and Premier Sports Cup.

Addressing the prospect of getting any sort of result at Celtic Park, Iredale said: “It'd be absolutely massive. I don't know if that would quite clinch third, but it'd be obviously the step in the right direction.

“But you know how hard playing against Celtic is at their own turf, especially when the sun's out. No-one wants to go there when the sun's shining, because it's chaos! We know how tough it's going to be, but we've shown that we can turn up in the big moments in this season and hopefully the boys can do that again on the weekend.

“Celtic have still got the cup final, and if we're going to finish third, we want them to win the cup as well. So if they want to let us win and then turn it back on after that, that'd be all right!”

Martin Boyle in ‘tough situation’ as Hibs hope to keep top scorer

Iredale’s move to Hibs was made easier by the Australian contingent already at Easter Road, with established Socceroos Martin Boyle and Lewis Miller joined by Sunderland loanee Nectar Triantis during the summer. With Boyle’s future up in the air, Iredale – who has just signed a new deal tying him to Hibs until 2028 – is obviously keeping tabs on what happens next.

“I think the club wants to keep as many of the players together as possible,” he said, adding: “Obviously with Boyle, it's a tough situation, because obviously he loves Hibs.

“But he's had such a massive season as well that he's got a big decision to make. It is World Cup year next year, I know that's factoring into his thoughts as well. So I've loved playing with Boyle this season, he's delivered massive moments for us, and if he stays at the club next season, then I’ll be even happier.

“I've not been involved in the national team set-up. But I know when he scores goals for the country, everyone's happy.

“From the outside looking in, and from what I tell, he's a key member of that Socceroos squad. He's very dangerous, and now seeing him up close, I respect him even more, because I know what he can do.”

Triantis and Miller provide hope of Popovic call-up

Iredale is still hoping that Aussie boss Tony Popovic, who handed Triantis his first call-up earlier this season on the strength of the midfielder’s performances for Hibs, issues an invitation to join the group for next month’s qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia, saying: “Hopefully I see him in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed, hopefully I can manage to break in.

“But if not, I know I'm at a place where I'm happy, and I'm playing football, and good things will come, I'm sure. It was actually one of the factors of why I decided to come to Hibs, because I knew playing at a club as big as this had international eyes on it.

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“And then when we had Millsy and Boyle in the team, obviously Nectar's come in, he's done really well, and there was a lot of Australian internationals coming through in Scotland, so that was one of the driving factors, and I'm really glad I've came here. We’ve had a couple of Aussies at Easter Road as well with the Australian flag, so it's nice, home away from home, I get a bit homesick, but it's nice when you see the familiar colours.

“I came up on deadline day and that was a bit of a stressful day as well, if you knew what was going on a deadline day. But the gaffer said I just need to be patient and stay ready and when I get my chance, try and take it. I think since then we've managed to go on a good run and obviously when you're winning games, the confidence is sky high and the mood in the camp's good.

“So I'm really happy that the club stuck by the gaffer and the team because we knew we were really close to things turning. But we just had to do it instead of saying it.”

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