Ross McCausland asked Rangers consistency question as Michael O'Neill spots what's changed under Philippe Clement
The attacker has displayed his potential at Rangers under new management in recent weeks.
Michael O'Neill is backing Ross McCausland to make a major Northern Ireland impact after forging his way firmly into Philippe Clement’s Rangers plans.
The 20-year-old has won a first senior call-up for Friday’s Euro 2024 against Finland in Helsinki. McCausland secured his maiden start for Clement in last weekend’s 2-0 win at Livingston after a string of bright showings from the bench. O’Neill says that’s testament to the kid’s talents and says he can push on for his country with a home game also looming against Denmark on Monday.
He said: “I’m pleased he has made the breakthrough because it can be difficult for a young player at a club like Rangers. He’s an exciting young player. He just has to continue in the vein of form that he’s in and certainly a change in manager seems to have helped him and he’s making the most of it. It’s up to him now, really. Can he stay in the team at Rangers?
“Once you have that first-team experience you gather belief in yourself as well. He’s not a boy who is short in confidence anyhow, so it’s good to have him in. He’s a confident lad who can add something.
“We’ve known Ross right through and we had him with the senior camp in the summer. There’s not a young player in the system that we don’t know well and Ross is one who has been around for a number of years, from the JD academy right through the Under-17s, Under-19s and Under-21s. He is a very talented boy.”
Northern Ireland have lost six of the eight Euro 2024 qualifying games with their sole wins coming in home and away fixtures against group minnows San Marino. O’Neill hopes McCausland and other new faces can spark an upturn and said: “It’s been a challenging campaign, we have had a lot of players missing.
“We’re well into double figures for this game now, but we’ll put a team on the pitch that will be well prepared. We’ll be asking a lot of some younger players, but that’s the nature of international football.
“Every time we come together it’s an opportunity to progress, to get to know the lads a little bit better, getting the younger players to understand how we want to work. We don’t play again until March so we want a positive camp and obviously good performances and, hopefully, two positive results.”