Partick Thistle Football Club

Congratulations are extended to Jonny Tuffey who earlier tonight earned his first full cap for Northern Ireland.

Previously capped by Northern Ireland at both under 19 and under 21 level Jonny had been included in the last few Northern Ireland squads without getting the opportunity to make his full international debut. That opportunity came his way at half-time in Northern Ireland’s friendly international with Hungary at Windsor Park in Belfast tonight.

In gaining his first full international cap Jonny becomes the 28th player to be capped for his country while playing for Partick Thistle.

Thistle’s first international cap was Willie Paul who was capped against Wales in 1888, 1889 and 1890.

Our last international cap was Adrian Madaschi who played four times for Australia in the summer of 2004.

Jonny joins the aforementioned Madaschi, Stephen Craigan, Quinton Jacobs, Jakkup Mikkelsen and Harry Chatton in becoming the sixth Thistle player to be capped by a country other than Scotland.

A short time after full-time www.ptfc.co.uk was able to catch up with Jonny who despite finishing on the losing side was delighted to have gained what we all hope will be the first of many Northern Ireland caps.

So how was the experience?

“It was fantastic, it was something that I have dreamed about since I was a boy. It’s been a long journey to get here but now that the cap has come I’m over the moon."

“Even though the result didn’t go our way it was great to make my debut at Windsor Park and the fans were great. I said as a young buy that I wanted to make my Northern Ireland debut at Windsor Park so from a selfish point of view it was great to get my first cap at our national stadium.”

We wondered when Jonny knew that he would feature in part of tonight’s game?
“There was a lot of speculation in the papers and on the TV but I only found out this afternoon when the manager told me to get myself mentally right that I knew that I would be playing.”

“Our next match is away to San Marino in February. My objective is to stay in the squad for that fixture and to get back working hard for Partick Thistle.”

Jonny is not slow to acknowledge the role that Thistle have played in his development as a player.

“There is no doubt that playing week in week out for Thistle has helped me gain a level of consistency. I need to keep working hard to maintain that level of consistency. It is important for a player to keep learning and progressing and Partick Thistle have definitely helped me do that.”

It’s back down to earth tomorrow for Jonny.

“We’ve a big game against Livingston on Saturday so it’s back to training at Firhill first thing tomorrow morning.”