Northern Irish hero seeking move can draw inspiration from Mexico’s own McGovern

Spare a thought for Hamilton Academical, who will quite likely lose their goalkeeper on the back of Tuesday night.

The Scottish Premiership side avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth and would have been proud that goalkeeper Michael McGovern was heading off to the European Championships. However with no agreement reached on a new deal they could have done without the Fermanagh man having a career-defining performance against the World Champions in Paris. The 31-year-old was almost unbeatable - Mario Gomez scoring the only goal of the game after a Thomas Muller dribble had forced the former Celtic academy player to commit himself, only for the Bayern man to cleverly shift the ball to his team-mate. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/745322072524619777 But that was it. Otherwise McGovern was a fluorescent yellow wall, at some point denying almost every German attacking player with a save of breath-taking agility, bravery or instinct. A late strong fingertip to a Joshua Kimmich header was arguably the highlight of a lengthy highlight reel. Afterwards his manager Michael O'Neill confirmed that McGovern has yet to agree a new deal with Hamilton, which brought back memories of another epic goalkeeping performance at a major tournament.

"He is a very hard-working lad and he has been very patient to get this opportunity and I hope that," said O'Neill. "Wherever he is playing his football next season, he deserves the opportunity to play at a top, top club."

In 2014 Mexico travelled to an emotional Fortaleza for an memorable meeting with World Cup hosts Brazil. For 90 minute they frustrated the Selecao, thanks chiefly to little known back-up keeper Guillermo Ochoa. Afterwards it became apparent that the then 28-year-old was out of contract with Ligue 1 minnows Ajaccio. After another couple of star turns the Mexican had earned a move to Malaga.

Michael McGovern is not stupid. He plays for Hamilton Academical - he is used to making saves. Players gave keeper a round of applause

— Mikey Stafford (@me_stafford) June 21, 2016

"Three or four times completely alone in the goal. He has shown a great effort, yes."