MICHAEL McGOVERN is hoping that another great season with Hamilton can propel him all the way to France next summer as part of Northern Ireland’s squad for Euro 2016.
The reliable shot-stopper, who kept a clean sheet as he earned his fourth cap in the crucial home qualifier against Romania in June, is adamant that he can maintain the excellent form that brought him to the attention of international manager Michael O’Neill.
“We’ll wait and see if we qualify but it is exciting times,” he said. “It’s brilliant as we’ve never qualified for the Euros before.
“We’re in such a strong position but we don’t want to get too carried away because there is still work to be done.
“We’ve got a double header in September and potentially we could qualify if we got the results then.
“But that’s on the backburner just now and we’ll deal with that in September.
“I want to play regularly and want to do well. I don’t know what will happen next summer yet but hopefully we will qualify.
“It’s looking good but there is still a bit of work to do. It could be a really nice summer next year but we’ll wait and see.
“The only thing I can do is play well for Hamilton because if you focus on other things you can lose your way.
“So I’ll just concentrate on the game on Saturday and going forward if I do my job all the other things will fall in place.
“My thoughts are just on Partick Thistle, totally.
“It’s brilliant that the Euros are in the back of your mind because that’s all positive and something to look forward to.
“But international games are in a few months and day to day you’ve got to deal with the bread and butter and do well for your team because if I’m not doing well for Hamilton then I might not be involved.
“So I have to concentrate on that.”
The annual dismissal of Hamilton’s chances of surviving in the top-flight is in full-swing, with many in the media and supporters of other clubs singling out the Premiership’s smallest club as clear relegation favourites.
It is a tag that doesn’t bother McGovern, and he is confident that with the new additions that Martin Canning has made to the squad, that the Accies are geared up for a successful second season back in the top division.
“Last season everyone was talking about us getting relegated and I’ve seen a few things saying the same this season,” he said.
“But we don’t pay too much attention to what other people think, we’re confident in ourselves and we know what we can do. We’re confident we’ll have a good season.
“This squad looks better than the one that finished last season. Obviously we lost Tony [Andreu], Mickael [Antoine-Curier] and the manager as a player in January and that weakened us as we didn’t really replace them, then Stephen Hendrie left in the summer.
“So the guys who have come in have been looking really good in training and in the games and they’ll be good additions.
“You always look to try to replace players with better players and the guys who come in will definitely be strong competition for the guys who are already here."
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