A YOUNG Tullibody girl has been called up to represent her country in the boys' national football team.

Madison Dunn, who attends St Bernadette's Primary School, developed her skills at Tullibody Lassies and now plays for Celtic.

The 11-year-old was recently signed to the Scotland Boys Club and will begin playing with them next month.

Madison's proud dad Lee told the Advertiser how the youngster has been kicking a ball for the majority of her life.

Lee said: "When Madison was three-years-old she attended a Little Kicks session at the Tullibody Church Hall and progressed from there to the Tullibody Lassies.

"She was always kicking balls around in the street and that's why we took her to the Little Kicks session."

After developing her skills in Tullibody, she joined Central Girls in Falkirk where she played for 18 months.

Lee added: "When Madison was at Central Girls, the coach for the boys team was a boy short on a Saturday for a league game.

"He was looking for a player and Madison went and impressed and then she signed on a permanent basis.

"She really enjoys playing with the boys, it's more physical and the pace was a lot faster."

Madison, who started off on the wing but now plays in defence, was scouted by Celtic and made the switch despite her coach being disappointed to see her go.

She signed just before Christmas in 2018 and even though she's a huge Chelsea fan she loves playing for Celtic.

The commitment to Celtic means she is travelling through to Glasgow twice a week for two-hour training sessions plus the Saturday matchday which means plenty of round-trips to Glasgow, something Lee and mum Claire are happy to support not only because she aspires to play professionally but most importantly because she enjoys it.

Her schedule is about to get even more hectic as she will now be representing her country as well.

As Madison plays with Celtic on a Saturday, the same day the Scotland girls would play, her and a few others were asked to play with the boys on a Sunday and she has now signed a dual contract between Celtic and Scotland.

Lee explained Madison "gives as much as she gets" and won't be phased by the latest step-up in her career.

He said: "Because she's played with the boys for so long she's used to it.

"She doesn't score goals but she definitely stops them."

The hard work for Scotland will begin in March and with so much experience already behind her, there's no reason why Madison can't follow in the footsteps of fellow Scots Erin Cuthbert and Jamie-Lee Napier and play for the blue of Scotland and Chelsea.