Elding hopes Hibs form can propel him to Ireland spotlight

Owen Elding is hoping his Hibs form will earn him a place in the Republic of Ireland squad for their Nations League matches next month - but he'll have to get his Irish passport first. The 20-year-old forward was born in England but moved to Ireland with his family when his father, Anthony, signed for Sligo Rovers. Elding followed in his dad's footsteps, making his Sligo debut three years ago before moving to Hibs in January this year. He applied to become an Irish citizen but the compulsory citizenship awarding ceremony he was due to attend earlier this year was postponed because of protests over fuel prices in the country. "I was due to have the citizenship ceremony at the start of the year, but it was cancelled," he said. "We're near the end of it all now, I'm just waiting on the passport to come." The hold-up prevented Elding being called up for Ireland's early-summer friendlies against Qatar and Canada but he was invited by head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson to train with the squad. "Definitely getting that experience with the first-team international set-up was massive," he added. "Obviously I couldn't play the game but it was just a chance for me to go in and show the staff and everyone what I could do. "Just being around the boys for the camp and seeing what it's like is something I want to be a part of." The attacker, who says his preferred position is the number 10 role, opened his scoring account for the season in last week's comeback win over Kosovans Malisheva that sent Hibs through to a third-round Conference League qualifier against Shkendija, with the first leg at Easter Road on Thursday. And Elding hopes positive performances for Hibs in the Conference qualifiers will boost his prospects of making the Ireland squad for next month's Nations League games against Kosovo, Israel and Austria. "Obviously the biggest stage in playing club football is the European stage, so everyone dreams as a kid to play in those competitions and tomorrow's the next step to where we want to be," he said. "Obviously no Hibs team has made it into a league phase before, so we've got a real chance this year to go that one step further. "I think we showed at home in the last tie that we're a good side, create loads of opportunities, and on our day we can beat a lot of teams."