McGrath starts for Saints in Hamilton draw

Athboy's Jamie McGrath started for St Mirren as they secured a 1-1 draw with Hamilton in the Scottish Premiership last night -  and took another significant step towards carving out a new career in Scotland.  

This was a huge game for both sides as they struggle to get away from the relegation mire - and McGrath, who had played in St Mirren's previous outing against Hibernian, started for Jim Goodwin's team. McGrath played the opening 45 minutes against Hamilton before he was substituted at the interval. 

Hamilton took the lead on 25 minutes however St Mirren equalised on 75 minutes to earn a valuable point. St Mirren are third from bottom with 22 points, with Hamilton just below them on 19 points while Hearts are the bottom side with just 18 points to their credit. 

McGrath signed for St Mirren last month after the 23-year-old's contract with Dundalk came to an end when the 2019 League of Ireland season was concluded. 

The Athboy man had a number of offers including a chance to stay at Dundalk however he opted to move to St Mirren who are based in Paisley just outside Glasgow. 

McGrath - who accepted a contract of just over two years to play for St Mirren -  had plenty of success when he was with Dundalk, winning two Premier League titles and an FAI Cup.  He also sampled European football however he felt the time was right to carve out a new career in the professional game in Scotland. 

He recently outlined in an interview that one of his favourite players was Steven Gerrard when he was with Liverpoool.  Gerrard, of course, is now manager of Rangers and McGrath might yet get a chance this season to play against the Ibrox Park outfit. The Saints host Rangers in March. 

A midfielder and winger McGrath has represented the Republic of Ireland at schools, u-19 and u-21 levels and it will be intriguing to see how he fares out in the cut and thrust of Scottish football.