Overlooked at renowned Dublin schoolboy club, St Joseph's, Liam Scales found himself playing senior football at the age of 16 with local side Arklow Town.
The young defender would step up another level in the men’s game soon after, as he tasted League of Ireland action with UCD before moving on to help Shamrock Rovers win the league in 2020 and 2021.
A move from the Students to Bristol Rovers fell through, but two seasons in Tallaght were enough to attract interest from across the Irish Sea once more as fellow green and white Hoops, Celtic, came knocking, signing the defender on a four-year contract.
Stephen Kenny has some injury concerns ahead of Saturday's Euro 2024 qualifier with The Netherlands
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Scales struggled to make an immediate impact at the Glasgow club, registering just five appearances for the Bhoys in his first season, which resulted in a loan move to fellow Scottish Premiership side, Aberdeen, where Scales established himself in the first team and proved that he was more than capable at operating at that level.
Back at Celtic for pre-season training earlier this summer, Scales was expecting to go back to Aberdeen, however, his fortunes changed for the better at Parkhead as new manager Brendan Rodgers called on him to cover a defensive injury crisis.
And the 25-year-old Wicklow man has not looked back, as he has gone on to establish himself in the league leaders' starting XI, while also impressing in certain Champions League games this season for the Celts.
As a result, Ireland manager Stephen Kenny felt confident to hand Scales his senior debut against Greece in October, and while it was a losing start for the versatile defender, he maintained his place for the away win against Gibraltar, where he impressed on the left side of the central defensive unit.
"It’s been great," said Scales, speaking at Tuesday’s press conference. "Playing every week at Celtic and then getting my first international caps. It’s gone as well as it probably could have gone.
"I’d say for me it’s top," added Scales, when asked the ranking of his first cap in his career so far. "It’s the one thing as a kid that I always wanted.
"As a kid you can say, 'Oh, I’d love to play in the Premier League’ and stuff. But playing for Ireland, I think the next best thing would be playing in a major tournament for Ireland. In fact, the only thing to top it would be to play in a major tournament for Ireland. It probably is my biggest achievement to date."
Scales credits his early entry into men’s football as one of the reasons that his career has progressed to this point and recalling the current Ireland manager playing him for the Under-21s ahead of young Ireland players who were coming through the ranks of more high-profile clubs in England.
"I’ve loved working with Stephen," said Scales. "He brought me into the U21s when he was manager there and I was at UCD. Maybe there were players playing at a higher level or playing in academies in Premier League clubs and I was picked ahead of them because I was playing men’s football and he knew the importance of that.
"He has always backed me, I suppose, and I’ve enjoyed working with him. That’s all I can say. He has shown lots of faith in me and I really appreciate that."
And Scales added that it is hard to watch the manager coming under fire for the team’s results, knowing how much the job means to Kenny.
"The results, it’s down to us as well and they haven’t been good enough," said Scales. "Everyone can see that. It’s tough because you know he loves the job so much, it’s the dream job for someone like him. It’s tough to see him go through that."
Club manager Rogers said recently that Scales was one of the biggest surprises that he has seen in football, and the Celtic defender admitted that it was the injuries at the club that really presented him with his chance to impress the new man in charge.
"Most people thought I was going to go back to Aberdeen. It was sort of in the pipeline, there was talk of it happening. Then obviously a few injuries happened. I think I’ve surprised in the sense that maybe I wasn’t fully in the picture, then a few injuries happened and I was thrown straight in and did well, and I’ve held my place now."
Again, Scales puts his progress down to the League of Ireland years, where he had to handle the responsibility of playing as UCD captain at a young age, before learning from some of the more seasoned campaigners at Shamrock Rovers.
And Scales feels the year at Aberdeen has proven to be the real bridge that has allowed him to traverse that gap from League of Ireland to mixing it with the European elites at club level and gaining recognition with his national side.
"Yes, definitely," said Scales, when asked about maturing early in the senior game. "I think at UCD, in my last year, I would have been one of the older players and I captained the team.
"I was only 21 but you know what the age profile is like at UCD. That probably helped, there was responsibility on me.
"Obviously, going onto Rovers, you play with players like Ronan Finn, Joey O’Brien and Alan Mannus, the senior pros, and you take little bits from them and how they carry themselves. They are role models for younger players. That’s what I’ve learned from.
"I think the year away at Aberdeen has got me up to speed with the level of Scottish football, because going from Ireland to Celtic is quite a big jump, and I think Aberdeen helped me bridge that gap as well."
Looking ahead to Saturday’s clash in Amsterdam, Scales is expecting a difficult game against the Dutch, but expects the pressure to be off, which could offer Ireland a chance of causing an upset.
"It’s going to be tough. They are a top side. But we know the situation, we haven’t qualified, we have nothing to lose, we can just go there and try to express ourselves and try to win the game," said Scales.
"It would be a great away win for us. You don’t really get many big away wins in international football, so that is our focus."
Watch the Netherlands v Republic of Ireland on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player this Saturday from 7pm, follow a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to commentary on RTÉ 2fm.
