Jackson Irvine won’t give up on Celtic’s Next Gen chances after playing his part in two great fight-backs against Hearts and Aston Villa.
At Tynecastle last week the hoops recovered from going behind to strike back with two late goals to earn a fourth round tie away to Hibs in the SFA Youth Cup.
Last week at Firhill Celtic trailed Aston Villa 2-0 in the Next Gen Series but fought back to earn a draw to keep alive their prospects of progress going into the final matches away to Sporting Lisbon and PSV Eindhoven.
“Going to Sporting is going to be the hardest match of our group,” the midfielder admitted. “We have to focus on ourselves and know that we are capable of competing with them, we have to find some consistency, put in a strong 90 minutes and come away with a win.
“I played against Portugal’s u-20 squad recently for Australia and they had quite a few Sporting players in the squad. They are very technical, have flair in the wide areas but we feel we have enough talent and firepower in this team to break down just about anyone.
“We have to make sure that we take our chances and keep the back door closed.
“After the games against PSV Eindhoven and Aston Villa we have something to build on and hopefully we can grab the right results in the remaining games.”
Jackson has played for Celtic at u-19, u-20 and first team level this season but experienced a special moment earlier this month with his first international appearance for Australia.
Last season he played three matches for Scotland at u-19 level but made it clear that his international options remained open.
Some on-line mischief making suggested that the midfielder had turned his back on his country of birth- ignoring the fact that he was born in Melbourne with his dad hailing from Aberdeen
“There was a lot of speculation and misinformation going on,” Irvine explained. “Some people were saying that I was born in Aberdeen which was nonsense so it was great to finally pull on the green and gold shirt.
“It’s what I’ve wanted to do since i was a little kid. I never regretted playing for Scotland, it was an amazing experience but standing in the green and gold waiting to play for Australia was the best feeling of my life and hopefully I get a few more chances to do that.
“I made the decision for myself, it was hard to read some of the comments people were making. There was some misleading facts out in public, I hope that the air has been cleared and I can get on with playing my football.
“Hopefully the traveling doesn’t effect me too much, Celtic is my priority and making my name here is the goal.
“I’ve been selected for the u-19 Asian Championships in Dubai next month which is the qualifiers for the u-20 World Cup in Turkey next summer. We have to reach the semi-finals to go to Turkey and that’s my aim internationally.”
Celtic’s u-20 side are in action tonight playing Dunfermline at Firhill, kick-off 7pm.
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