Few strikers could start a season as well as Garry O’Connor has done with Hibernian and be in line for a call-up to their international squad.
The leading man has scored ten goals in 12 appearances for Hibernian. Seven of those goals have come in Hibs’ opening ten league games, despite the club currently being in tenth in the Scottish Premier League table. He is responsible for over 60% of Hibernian’s goals so far this season.
Michael Owen seemingly put himself back on the England radar with a brace against second tier Leeds United in the Carling Cup and yet O’Connor can’t get a look-in towards the Scotland squad. His name was brought up in numerous speculative conversations regarding the squad but just as quickly passed over as not a candidate.
Last Thursday when Craig Levein announced his squad for the final shot at Euro 2012 qualification and the two games that could prove so crucial, O’Connor’s inclusion, and not exclusion, would have been a huge talking point.
Born in Edinburgh and having progressed through the youth ranks at Hibernian, he was handed his international debut just days after his 19th birthday; however it was nearly two and a half years before he was recalled to the squad. As well as frequently changing clubs since he left Edinburgh in 2005, O’Connor has also struggled to be regularly picked by any of recent Scotland managers.
His career has been marred by off the field problems and thanks to those exploits, he has been unable to earn the complete trust of any of the national team’s different managers. He has been restricted to a horrendously low number of caps when his finishing ability really dictates he should have been involved a lot more, particularly for a country with a pool of players as small the Scottish crop.
Dispatches, the Channel 4 television programme, identified Garry O’Connor as a player who has been suspended for drug offences and in May, just weeks before signed with Hibernian, he was arrested in Edinburgh on cocaine possession charges. The stories, although recent, are not far from the incidents and events that have been a mainstay of the 28 year-old’s difficult career.
It is because of those reasons, Craig Levein will utilise four strikers with a total of just 16 international goals (15 scored by Kenny Miller) to their names for the must-win matches against Lithuania and Spain.
The Scottish national squad is bursting with a string of incredible players coming through all at the same time; except up front. No-one has been able to threaten Kenny Miller’s dominance as the Scottish number nine but O’Connor has all the tools to do just that.
Garry O’Connor, as the spear point of Hibernian’s attack this season, has been the only positive that the Hibees have been able to take from the early season. His goal return has been nothing short of incredible. If he can keep his nose clean for the rest of the season and continue to score goals, there is no reason why the frontman can’t be in a Scotland jersey by May, if not by the end of 2011.
Photo courtesy by *Arctic Fox*.
