TOMMY Conway has stressed that he will be going all out to help Scotland enjoy a successful Euro 2024 campaign - in an attempt to honour his beloved late grandfather Daniel.
Conway was called into the national squad last week as a replacement for Lyndon Dykes after the Queens Park Rangers forward was ruled out of the tournament by injury.
The Bristol City striker made his debut for his adopted homeland in the friendly international against Finland at Hampden on Friday night and very nearly netted the winner in injury-time.
The Taunton-born 6ft 1in 21-year-old qualifies to play for Scotland through a paternal grandfather who hailed from Stirling and he admitted that the man who played such an important role in his career has been at the forefront of his thoughts in recent days.
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“He’s not with us any more, but he means a lot to me,” said Conway. “The role that he played in my football career and journey, coming up through the academy, was unbelievable.
“He had no right to be picking me up from school and taking me to training at his age, when my mum and dad couldn’t do it. I’m forever thankful for him. I’m glad to have done that on Friday night for him.
Conway added: “I don’t think I could have dreamed of this, especially after the provisional squad was named. In football, you know anything can happen, but I wasn’t expecting it. It was a shock, I’m not going to lie. It’s surreal. Full of ‘pinch me’ moments.
“I was away with the under-21s. The game finished and Scot Gemmill did his debrief and straight after that with the whole squad there in front of him.
“He said, ‘I want to congratulate Tommy for getting a call-up to the full squad’. I honestly thought, ‘Is this real life?’. For a second, I couldn’t believe it.
“The next day I was flying back to Glasgow. Everyone was quiet, then Lewis Fiorini, who was sitting next to me, started jumping on me and hugging me. I froze. I didn’t know what to do. It sunk in and I realized what was about to happen. It was just pride. It’s a proud moment.”
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Conway’s involvement with the senior Scotland set-up has just got better and better – he loved the welcome which the national team received from the locals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen after they arrived on Sunday.
But he is not in Germany to make up numbers and would like to make his presence felt in the Group A games against Germany, Switzerland and Hungary.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “We’ve got a tight-knit group and this is a good base for us. Hopefully we can build from that in the tournament.
“I’ll be ready when I’m called upon, whenever the gaffer needs me. I’m going to train hard every day and if I’m needed on the pitch, I’m going to go for it.
“For the fans who are here and the ones who are back home, we’re going to do it all for them and try to get as far as we can. I could have scored last week. I hope the goals come at the Euros. I hope they come on Friday night.”
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