Owen Elding's Journey to Republic of Ireland Call-Up
Owen Elding has waited years for this. Not for a contract, not for a breakthrough season, but for a passport.
The Hibernian striker has finally received his first official call-up to the Republic of Ireland senior squad for the start of their Nations League campaign, a moment that has been circling on the horizon for far longer than his age – 20 – might suggest.
A passport, a protest, and a delay
Elding was already on the radar. Heimir Hallgrimsson named him in his squad for friendlies against Qatar and Canada in May and June, but only as a training player. He travelled, he trained, he mixed with the group. He just couldn’t play.
The reason was not form, nor fitness. It was paperwork.
Born in England, Elding has lived in the Republic of Ireland since the age of six, when his family moved after his father Anthony signed for Sligo Rovers. He qualifies for Ireland on residency and began the process of applying for citizenship last year. Everything was lined up for him to finally pull on the green shirt in the last international window.
Then the fuel protests hit.
Demonstrations across the Republic of Ireland in April led to the cancellation of a mandatory citizenship ceremony, the final step before receiving his Irish passport. No ceremony, no passport. No passport, no debut.
So Elding watched on, stuck in limbo, training with the squad but ineligible to step onto the pitch.
Now the delay is over. Passport in hand, the Hibs forward heads into an extended four-game window hoping to turn months of frustration into his first senior cap.
From Sligo’s academy to Scotland
The Elding story in Ireland started in Sligo and, fittingly, so did his football.
Like his father Anthony, he came through the Sligo Rovers academy and made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old in October 2023. He did not hang around in the shadows for long.
By 2025, he had exploded into one of the Irish Premier Division’s standout young attackers, scoring 16 goals and supplying five assists in a breakout season that ended with the PFAI Young Player of the Year award. It was the kind of year that makes scouts move quickly.
Interest grew across the water. In January this year, Scottish Premiership side Hibernian stepped in, tying him down on a four-and-a-half-year deal. It was a clear statement: this was not a project for tomorrow, but a forward ready to contribute now.
He has done exactly that. Since moving to Scotland, Elding has scored six goals in 22 games, with three of those strikes coming in nine appearances in the current campaign. Not just potential, but production.
A taste of camp – and a manager impressed
That form earned him his first brush with the senior Ireland set-up in the summer. Even without the paperwork completed, Hallgrimsson wanted him in the room.
The camp gave Elding a glimpse of the level and a chance to show he belonged.
“Definitely getting that experience with the first-team international set-up was massive,” he said in August. “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.”
He made his point.
Hallgrimsson has now named him in the squad for a demanding 12-day stretch: matches against Kosovo and Austria, wrapped around a double-header against Israel. It is a serious schedule and a serious show of faith.
The Icelandic coach has not hidden his admiration.
“He really impressed us with his attitude and his character and how he presented himself as a player,” Hallgrimsson said. “He has been struggling with injury, he's been coming back, but you can see the quality this kid has.”
Fighting for minutes, building for the future
The pathway to minutes is not straightforward. Elding is working his way back to full fitness after a recent injury and steps into a forward line already stacked with in-form and established options: Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Tom Cannon are all ahead of him in terms of senior experience.
His involvement in this window might be limited. It might be a handful of minutes. It might be none.
But Hallgrimsson has made one thing clear: Elding is no longer just a training player or a name for the future. He is in the squad, in the plans, and finally eligible.
For a striker who has already waited through fuel protests, cancelled ceremonies and a stalled debut, the next question is simple: when the chance finally comes, how quickly can he turn promise into goals in green?
