A couple of Hibs stars have made their national team debuts over the first week of an extended international break.

After overcoming red tape to become eligible for action, Owen Elding made his long-awaited bow for the Republic of Ireland, during their 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in the Nations League. The striker has impressed since joining Hibs from Sligo Rovers in January and was introduced for the final few minutes by manager Heimir Hallgrimsson.

Azeem Abdulai meanwhile made his bow for Sierra Leone against Zimbabwe. The midfielder got on from the bench in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier but his team squandered a two-goal lead in the second half and eventually lost 3-2. Miguel Chaiwa was also on AFCON qualifiers duty and started for Zambia in their 3-1 loss against Algeria.

Chaiwa started and played 68 minutes of the away defeat. Midfielder partner at Hibs, Jacob Devaney, started and got 75 minutes for the Republic of Ireland U21s as they earned a crucial victory 2-0 win over Slovakia. It keeps their U21s European Championship qualification hopes alive with two qualifying games against Kazakhstan and England remaining.

They can’t catch the latter who are eight points ahead, but second offers a possible route to the tournament, and Slovakia currently in that position are now two points away. U21s boss Jim Crawford hailed the Hibs midfielder on loan from Manchester United and the rest of his teammates, saying: “To a man the players were fantastic.

“I think you’re always looking for a good performance and that was a hell of a performance. The goals we got were exceptional. We could have scored more too. We asked them before the game, go and give us a real Irish performance. And that’s what they did.

“It means nothing if we don’t get three points on Tuesday. We’ll be doing everything as a staff to get the players focused.” There are going to be periods in the game where you’ve got to defend your box with everything you have, and we did that. We were exceptional.”

Lewis Gillie meanwhile played the full 90 minutes for Scotland U19s in their 3-1 friendly win against Finland. The young defender currently on loan at Stranraer is out in Spain with the U19s group and new head coach Tam Courts.

The Scottish Football Social Club is presented by BetSBK.com | 18+ | Gamble Responsibly