![\"26](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0024cd9e-614.jpg\"\/)
\nOwen Elding training with the Ireland squad in Abbotstown in late May<\/p>\n
Owen Elding is on a mission to fire Hibernian a step closer to the Conference League and bolster his prospects of being included in the Republic of Ireland squad for their Nations League matches in the autumn.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old is eligible for the Republic on the grounds of residency and is waiting to receive his Irish passport after going through a protracted citizenship process.<\/p>\n
Elding trained with Heimir Hallgrimsson’s team during their camp at the end of last season and is hopeful of earning a first proper call-up next month for their Nations League matches against Kosovo, Israel and Austria.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, I\u2019m just waiting on the passport to come now, so, yeah, we\u2019re nearly there,” he said ahead of the first leg of Hibs\u2019 Conference League third qualifying round tie at home to North Macedonian side Shkendija.<\/p>\n
“But obviously, it\u2019s only what I do with club football that will determine if I\u2019m in those squads or not. Starting again tomorrow, I need to put in a good performance and keep pushing on.<\/p>\n
“Getting that experience in the first-team international set-up in the summer was massive. Just being around the boys for the camp \u2013 I obviously wasn\u2019t able to play the games (against Qatar and Canada) \u2013 I was just getting that taste and seeing what it\u2019s like, and it\u2019s something I want to be a part of.”<\/p>\n
Elding got his first taste of European football in the last round against Kosovan side Malisheva, where he scored in the second leg of Hibs\u2019 4-3 aggregate triumph.<\/p>\n
\nOwen Elding training with the Ireland squad in Abbotstown in late May<\/p>\n
The former Sligo forward is eager to help his team earn group-stage football for the first time in their history, with IFK Gothenburg or Gent awaiting them in the play-off round if they can get past Shkendija.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, the biggest stage you can play in club football is the European stage,” said Elding. “Everyone dreams as a kid to play in those competitions and tomorrow\u2019s the next step towards where we want to be.”<\/p>\n
Elding’s would-be international teammate Jamie McGrath will miss out through injury as Hibernian face a Shkendija side who reached the knockout phase play-off round of last season\u2019s Conference League.<\/p>\n
The North Macedonians had finished 22nd in the league phase, helped by a fortuitous 1-0 home win over Shelbourne courtesy of a late own goal.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re playing against a side that\u2019s been in Europe for a few years now, established and did really well in the competition last season,” said Hibs manager David Gray.<\/p>\n
“And they\u2019ve brought some players in off the back of the success they had last season.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m not belittling the previous opponents in the last round, but we know it\u2019s going to be a step up in quality. We\u2019re going in the right direction in terms of physicality now as well, with more competitive games into the legs of players, but it will be a difficult test.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Owen Elding is on a mission to fire Hibernian a step closer to the Conference League and bolster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-584087","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\/584087","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=584087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}