Keith Treacy will complete a dream week on Tuesday when, just three days after making his Premier League debut, he captains the Republic of Ireland Under-21s who play their Austrian counterparts in Vienna.
The 19-year-old Dubliner has been handed the captain's armband by manager Don Givens and he says that it will be an honour to lead out his country.
Treacy made his Premier League debut during Blackburn Rovers' 3-2 defeat of Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday. With the sides level at 2-2, new Blackburn manager Paul Ince put Treacy on for the final 20 minutes.
Treacy's progress at Blackburn Rovers last season was curtailed by a number of injury set-backs and, while he featured for the club in cup competitions, he did not feature in the Premier League.
The young Dubliner returned to pre-season training one month ahead of his team mates in order to ensure there would be no repeat of last season’s injury troubles this time around.
He will now round-off a memorable week of his career when he leads out his country for the first time.
'I have played for Ireland at every level except senior but I have never captained a team, so to be given the opportunity to captain the Under-21s is a massive honour.
'It was a big surprise to me when Don asked me to captain the team but obviously I’m delighted to be given that responsibility,' he said.
'Tuesday’s match is only a friendly but it is an important bonding exercise for the players.
'It's a new group and, although a lot of the players would know each other, there are a few new faces here. We still have two European Championship qualifying matches to play and they are important games to make sure we are ready for the next qualifying tournament.'
