Boss Jim Goodwin believes St Mirren boast one of the best centre-back partnerships in Scotland.
And he would love to see Charles Dunne and Joe Shaughnessy both rewarded for their recent fine form with international recognition.
The battling Buddies pair have been crucial to the club’s upturn in form since returning from the winter break, thriving after Goodwin switched from a back three to a back four.
Dunne, 28, and 29-year-old Shaughnessy have both got under-21 caps for Ireland and put in another strong performance against Hibs on Saturday in front of current Ireland national manager Stephen Kenny – who was in the stands at Easter Road.
And Goodwin revealed he feels the powerful duo are more than capable of replicating their domestic form on the international stage for Ireland.
Goodwin told Express Sport: “I told Kenny not to forget that Charles Dunne and Joe Shaughnessy are both eligible because those two lads have been outstanding since we switched to a back four.
“I don’t know if you’ll find a better partnership in the country right now.
“They’re so consistent and a couple of real leaders that you would want in any team.
“They’re also so balanced as well. Dunne is left-sided, quick and strong, and Joe right-sided and strong too.
“They have been a real focus point and key to the success we’ve had recently. They both deserve a big pat on the back.”
Also in Kenny’s sights in Leith was Saints star midfielder and current Wolves loanee Connor Ronan.
He couldn’t have missed Ronan’s emphatic winner, his fifth goal of the campaign so far, with Goodwin also touting the talented 23-year-old for a spot in Ireland’s senior national set-up.
Goodwin said: “We got the goal from the high press, which was pleasing.
“It was a mistake from the Hibs player but Ronan still has a hell of a lot to do when he picks up the ball.
“He doesn’t score many bad goals and that was another one, in front of the Ireland manager as well.
"Hopefully that will be enough to get Connor in the Irish set-up because I’ve been banging the drum for him for quite a while. Hopefully that helps get him the recognition he deserves.
“I spoke to Stephen afterwards and I’ve had a few conversations with him already about Jamie McGrath.
“He knows Connor well enough from the under-21s as well. He was on stand-by for the last squad, I thought he should have been in it personally.
“Jamie got that recognition playing for us and I’d love Connor to as well because it makes my job easier recruiting players.
“It lets us tell young players coming here we’ll give them the opportunity to flourish and make that step up.”
St Mirren’s win over Hibs stretched their unbeaten run in the league to four matches and pushed them firmly back into the mix for a top-six spot come the split.
Goodwin knows his club will have to fight hard to make that target achievable but insists they’ll show no fear against bigger clubs over the remaining nine Premiership matches.
He added: “It’s the most competitive the league has ever been in my lifetime, from top to bottom.
“I don’t think there’s a team that would ever look at a fixture and think ‘that’s a nice easy game for three points’.
“I think Livingston, Ross County and ourselves have a great spirit about the group. There’s no egos.
“All our lads buy into what we’re trying to do and I can see that with Livi and County as well. Hence why they’ve got the results they have recently.
“The pressure is always on the big boys like Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts. The onus is always on them to beat us so-called small teams.
“But we don’t fear any of them. We were looking forward to playing Hibs and I’m delighted the boys got the result their performance deserved.”
