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Northern Ireland winger Paul Smyth hailed Eoin Toal and believes the Wanderers defender could be part of an exciting future for the national set-up.
Toal made his senior debut last Tuesday, playing the full 90 minutes as Michael O’Neill’s side were beaten 1-0 by Slovenia in a Euro qualifier.
The centre-back was called up to the senior squad for the first time in March after becoming a regular member of Ian Evatt’s squad in League One.
“Eoin Toal was absolutely outstanding,” QPR man Smyth told The Belfast Telegraph. “He was nervous against Slovenia but he showed his quality.
“He was coming in at short notice and competed against a 20-year-old, Benjamin Sesko, who just signed for RB Leipzig for £20million.
“He was absolutely brilliant and it was great for him to have Jonny Evans beside him to help him along the way.”
O’Neill’s side have had a tough time in Group H, with their only points coming against bottom-ranked San Marino.
But the squad is eager to finish on a high in their final qualifiers against Finland and Denmark next month.
“There were a lot of positives to take out of the recent games,” Smyth continued. “We have a lot of young players coming through and you can see the squad is transitioning into something new.
“We don’t have the squad now which qualified for the (2016) Euros — it’s a brand new squad, with only about three players who played in those Euros, so we are still showing what we can do and how we are developing as a team.
“It was tough against Slovenia - especially when we went down to 10 men - but we could have got an equaliser near the end and overall, the boys can hold their heads up high. We can now go into next month with positive thoughts.
“It is fine margins when you play in these Euro qualifiers. You’re up against top teams and top players, so you have to take your chances which we have missed in different games.”
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