'Unbelievable news' as Jamie McGrath earns first Ireland senior call up

Meath man Jamie McGrath feels that going against the grain and moving to Scotland was the correct decision to continue his development.

McGrath was courted by a number of English clubs after leaving Dundalk in 2019 but knew that he needed to be playing regular first team football to progress his career. It seems to have paid off as McGrath was called up to the senior team for the first-time last week.

“There were a few teams down South, and after speaking to a few of the managers, I wasn't getting a good vibe off any of them to be honest. I was not sure if I would play regularly, or if they were taking a chance on me because I was a free transfer.

“After speaking to the gaffer at St Mirren he sold it to me and really wanted me there. Thankfully, it's worked out so far and I’m really enjoying it.”

McGrath has had a stellar season, scoring 17 times from midfield as St Mirren finished seventh and reached the Scottish Cup semi-finals. McGrath has said that he really enjoyed playing for Stephen Kenny at Dundalk and described how the Ireland boss pushed him to reach his potential.

“He thought I had bags of ability, and then was hard on my case when I was playing things safe and not playing with freedom. In my first year he was constantly on my case “stop passing the ball backwards and sideways, I want you to give the ball away and try things”. I am very thankful for the way he managed me in that first year at Dundalk. He changed my mentality.”

Describing his call up as “unbelievable news”, McGrath said, “I want to train well, put my best foot forward. I want to play, and I am not coming in just to make up the numbers. I need to impress in training so that is my sole focus at the minute. The lads have been very welcoming, so I’ll try and do well on the pitch and take it from there.”

Last week Stephen Kenny mentioned that Ireland has been missing a natural number 10 for some time and described how calling up McGrath and Shamrock Rovers’ Danny Mandroiu will address that going forward.

“We probably haven’t had a traditional number 10 in the squad,” Kenny said.

“We had Jack Byrne, but he likes to come back into midfield and make passes. In terms of a number 10, midfield players like Alan Browne, Jayson Molumby or Jason Knight are traditional attacking midfield players, they are not natural number 10s as such, but Jamie and Dan both are very much so.”



Ireland fans will be hoping that McGrath hits the ground running in the two friendlies, be creative in possession and create good chances, a sight that supporters have been starved of in recently.