Scotland head coach Steve Clarke says that a trio of Hearts players are on his radar after they didn't earn call-ups for this month's national team squad.
Stephen Kingsley has been widely praised for his performances at Tynecastle but the left-sided defender wasn't named in the initial squad, with Hellas Verona left-back Josh Doig and St Mirren defender Declan Gallagher linking up with Clarke's team ahead of him. McKay has also won praise but again, it wasn't enough to warrant a call while Shankland is yet to reclaim his place in Clarke's plans following his summer transfer to Hearts.
All three are in Clarke's thoughts though and he says they are being monitored by him for future involvement.
Ahead of Saturday night's UEFA Nations League match with the Republic of Ireland, he said: “He’s done great has Stephen. I just felt that with the experience Declan has, he was the one I thought of.
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"I also saw him play at the weekend and he did very, very well against Celtic. Declan with his experience just shaded Stephen.
“But Stephen Kingsley, Barrie McKay, Lawrence Shankland, I’m watching them all the time. I know they are there."
It was a fine night for the national team on Wednesday, beating Ukraine 3-0 to leave them needing two draws to obtain promotion to Nations League Group A.
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