IN a week that has seen the way our national sport approaches bringing through young talent thrust under the microscope, it was a refreshing, if not slightly amusing, image to cast an eye over the man of the match presentation at Hampden on Saturday.

Following a 2-1 victory for Peterhead over Queen’s Park in the Petrofac Training Cup semi-final, a bottle of champers was handed over the home side’s Tony Ralston on an account of the mature display he performed at right back. It is at this juncture it’s probably worth pointing out Mr Ralston turns 17 today, and therefore is not even able to take a celebratory sip as he blows his candles out.

It was in the build up to this encounter that Jim McInally, the Peterhead manager, opened a can of worms by claiming the country’s pro-youth system, which sees large batches of kids go throw various age groups in club academies, gives some aspiring young footballers false hope of making it in the game, sometimes leading to depression and even thoughts of suicide.

While Ralston is a member of a youth set-up at Celtic, his pro-active attitude when it comes to his career is surely a shining example of what McInally is trying to preach. In the first year of a two-season contract at Parkhead, the teenager opted to go out on loan to Queen’s Park rather than kick around playing in academy teams. It has proven to be an eye-opening experience for the birthday boy who is clearly relishing the opportunity given to him.

Despite his young age, Ralston spoke with a maturity beyond his years when asked about his future, and encouraged those in a similar position at clubs throughout the land to be brave and seek out first-team football.

“I’m meant to be on loan until January 4 but that can always get extended. It depends what happens at Celtic and whether I’m going to go back there and get a game or not,” said the birthday boy. “With me being 16, 17 on Monday, I’m still young so whether I’d get a game when I go back, I don’t know. We’ll need to figure that out.

“I’m going into each game knowing I’m getting the experience of being around first-team players and playing in cups like this is only going to help me for the future.

“I’d definitely encourage a lot of boys, especially my age and going into my age group, to go out on loan. The experience you get at this level playing against men every day, every Saturday, it will only help you in your career going forward. You’ll be used to it when you are thrown in to a first-team environment.

“There may not be thousands of fans but it’s a stepping stone to getting that experience of playing in front of people. Boys should definitely go out on loan, it will help them a lot.”

Turning his attention to Saturday’s game, Ralston was pragmatic about Queen’s Park coming up just short against higher-league opposition. In front of a crowd of just under a 1000, the concession of two goals from set-pieces in the first ultimately cost the Hampden club the chance to meet Rangers or St Mirren in April’s final.

After the interval the home side did little to threaten the Balmoor club’s goal until the last five minutes, however the young full-back was keen to accentuate the positives.

“It’s a disappointing result. We came into the game with high hopes to get a result and at least take it to extra-time. The boys have a good fitness level and we hoped that could happen,” said Ralston. “But the result is obviously very disappointing. It’s two goals from two set pieces that we didn’t defend very well, it’s not like us.

“I felt we really took the game to them in the second half and that’s something the boys should be proud of.”

While Ralston and Queen’s Park must now focus on other matters, those in the north east will no doubt still be celebrating getting to the club’s first national cup final. It is a momentous achievement for the club that was only introduced into the football league 15 years ago, and striker Rory McAllister, whose free-kick smashed Peterhead into an early lead, reaching the final was a goal everyone was desperate to achieve.

“Everyone was in training for once,” joked the former Inverness Caledonian Thistle forward, who has scored in every round for the men from the Bloo Toon. “The people behind the scene put a lot of work and hours in. It’s a good little family club and it’s nice for a lot of the people up there to get a day out to a final.

“As long as we get through the round and get to the final. It just happens to be me that scored but as long as we got through that was the main thing.”