Melia will hope to win his second cap in Montreal when Heimir Hallgrimsson’s side take on a Canada side playing in their final fixture before co-hosting the World Cup.<\/p>\n
But for the former St Patrick’s Athletic youngster, it’s clear that last Thursday at Lansdowne Road remains a freshly proud moment.<\/p>\n
“It was a surreal moment to come on, even though it was short but I had all my family there and it was a dream for me to make my debut, especially in the Aviva, so buzzing,” Melia told RT\u00c9 soccer correspondent Tony O’Donoghue.<\/p>\n
He added that the fact he is among a significant number of former or current League of Ireland players in the squad for the Montreal friendly, proves that the domestic league can be valuable for aspiring senior internationals.<\/p>\n
“It shows there is a path if you prove what you can do on the pitch in League of Ireland, you’re going to get your chance,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of LOI players in the squad at the moment. But yeah, there is a chance.”<\/p>\n
Melia, who has been capped at every age grade up to the under-21s, discovered he had earned senior recognition via text.<\/p>\n
“I initially got a text. I was out on my day off with my family over in London so it actually worked out nice that they were there for the moment with me so I could share it with them, so it was lovely to get that text,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It was hard to believe at the start. I wasn’t sure if it was for the 21s or the senior team but it was senior and I was delighted.”<\/p>\n
The early experiences within the Ireland squad have been positive for the Wicklow native.<\/p>\n
![\"Republic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/002477f8-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMelia alongside fellow senior debutants Jaden Umeh (left) and Corrie Ndaba (right)<\/p>\n
“It’s been lovely. Obviously, getting to travel to this side of the world as well,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve never been in here. It’s nice but then the football side of it, playing with the players I’m playing with and getting to know them is special.<\/p>\n
“I’ve always been a supporter before I’d even played. I wouldn’t say it’s daunting. I’d say more exciting getting to play with Nathan (Collins) and S\u00e9amus (Coleman), who’s a legend obviously, so I’m just really happy.”<\/p>\n
The next challenge for Melia will be to break into the Spurs’ first-team picture.<\/p>\n
He arrived at the club with a long-standing back issue dating back to 2024.<\/p>\n
But he says it’s “all sorted now” and his recovery allowed him to feature in Tottenham Hotspur under-21 games before the end of the season, including a goal in his first appearance in April<\/a>, as well as training with Roberto De Zerbi’s first team.<\/p>\n “When I first went over, it was quite hard,” he said.<\/p>\n “They found a little niggle in my back. But I just had to get myself right, all the other stuff off the pitch right.<\/p>\n “But since I’ve been back fit, I’ve been feeling really good and obviously getting my call-up here, so something must be going well. But I’m enjoying it at the moment.<\/p>\n “I’ve been playing just to get my fitness back mainly. Scoring is always nice.”<\/p>\n With Spurs’ survival after a brush with relegation danger last season, there will be intrigue around how Melia fits into the Premier League club’s plans in the short-term and whether he goes out on loan or gets a chance to prove his credentials.<\/p>\n “It’s hard to say right now. I know they want me to come in, do my pre-season and pretty much go from there,” he said.<\/p>\n “But there isn’t really a structural plan at the bottom for what my future is. But I’m really open to anything. I just want to get playing.”<\/p>\n But the achievement of winning a senior cap won’t harm his standing when it comes to impressing his club manager, Melia added.<\/p>\n “It’s nice for De Zerbi to see that I’ve made my international debut. But I just want to make a good impression when I get back in pre-season.”<\/p>\n Watch every game of the FIFA 2026 World Cup live on RT\u00c9 with highlights on RT\u00c9 Sport digital platforms and live blogs on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app <\/p>\n Watch Republic of Ireland v Netherlands in FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying on Friday from 7pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app and listen to commentary on Inside Sport on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 <\/p>\n Watch Canada v Republic of Ireland in the early hours of Saturday morning (12.15am) on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app<\/p>\n \n Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mason Melia is still buzzing from the “surreal” experience of making his Republic of Ireland senior debut as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-481342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}