John O’Shea is, helpfully, on hand to announce the arrival of Mason Melia into the Sheraton Club Lounge, 37 floors up above downtown Montreal.
“The striker’s here now,” says Ireland’s assistant manager. “Hot stuff.”
Melia smiled, a little sheepishly. As of last Thursday he’s an Ireland senior international but he’s also still a teenager and, even in 2026, teenagers can embarrass easily.
“That’s a good start,” Melia said as he sat down. It was, but not because he needed the ice broken for him. Even as the city below him edged into its season of sizzle with a blissful 28 degrees afternoon, Melia was a chilled, confident presence.
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Heimir Hallgrímsson has brought an Ireland squad significantly short on age and international experience across the Atlantic to help co-hosts Canada warm up for their World Cup here on Friday night. Melia can be counted as both of the above but he’s also a veteran of nearly 100 League of Ireland games and those that came on his blazing way up. He has almost always been the one who had eyes on him.
“I think it’s good to have that, for me, it’s good for people to be saying [to watch me], than being saying the opposite,” Melia said on Wednesday morning at the team base. “I’ve always thrived off that, people are going to be wanting to watch me run and see what I’m going to be able to do, and I’ve always loved it.”
O’Shea, Hallgrímsson and the rest of the coaching squad have clearly loved what they’ve seen from Melia during what is now an unusually extended camp for a transatlantic double-header of friendlies. Since arriving last weekend, Ireland have been training at Centre Nutrilait, the home base of MLS side CF Montreal. Wednesday was a rest day and while some squad members made for the golf course, Melia was booked for media duties.
To his credit he was happy to talk. The call-up, the debut, what it means that he’s here with the senior team and not with Jim Crawford’s Under-21s in Croatia. All of these have made for a hugely positive end to a 2025/26 season. A year of growth – in more ways than one. Then there was Tottenham Hotspur’s final-day survival. Having swapped Inchicore for north London on January 1st of this year, he didn’t want to be staring into a summer of relegation rearrangements.
“I’m delighted they stayed up. I think clubs never [want to] be in that position, but everyone the last few months could feel the pressure. Everyone’s delighted that they stayed up,” said Melia who played, and inevitably scored, in his debut for Spurs’ Under-21s in April. He has had more than a taste of first-team training lately too. He hopes his Ireland call-up can help him springboard into a more regular place in Roberto De Zerbi’s senior set-up.
“Spurs have been very intense over the last few months, obviously. De Zerbi came in and he’s been very good for the lads, but very intense training. I want to be playing first-team football again, I’ve said it to the club as well, they know that as well. So it’s just seeing what’s right, what the manager and what everyone at the club wants. At the moment I’m not quite sure, they want me to come in preseason. So I want to do as well and just show the manager what I can do, and do my best and see what goes from there.”
While he hasn’t chatted club fortunes with former Spurs striker Troy Parrott this week, he has soaked up all he can, training alongside Ireland’s leading man. “Deadly” was the verdict on that experience. His international debut came as a replacement for Parrott last Thursday night.
“It was only short but very special to have my family and everyone there supporting me as well, so it was nice. It kind of happened real fast, it was just get [stripped] and get ready, that was it,” added Melia.
This dream end to the campaign on both fronts comes after a rough start to his time across the channel. Having finally arrived nearly a full year after the record €1.9 million switch had been agreed, there was an immediate road bump.
“I went over in January and [the club] found two stress fractures in my back, so it was quite tough coming in,” said Melia, who wasn’t a stranger to growing pains in that part of his body in his time with St Patrick’s Athletic. “Yeah, it was a prior problem to be honest. Everyone’s been very good to me to be fair, they looked after me, got me right, made sure of that. I’m happy now the position I’m in, I’m back fully fit.”
More than that. Melia isn’t just better – but bigger. With a host of League of Ireland talents in this squad there are more than a few who know him to see. Many were surprised with the vision that greeted them this time around.
“I think I’ve grown a good bit since I went to Spurs. Seeing the people that I played a little bit with, they were like ‘Jesus, you’re looking so different’,” added Melia, pestered for a copy of his gym programme by some of the home-based players. “I’ve grown a little bit [taller], just a little bit. I’ve put on more muscle, I’m a bit bigger, wider as well, I’m in a good place at the moment, I’m happy.”
