Ever since he was seven years old Stephen Elliott has been a goal scorer. Brought up playing playground football alongside the likes of Republic of Ireland Under 21 team mate Wes Hoolahan on Portland Close near Dublin's North Circular Road, Stephen always had the look of a future star.

It was in these kick abouts that he first developed his off the cuff style of play that has sometimes led to comparisons with Robbie Keane and by the age of seven, he was well on the road to stardom when he joined Belvedere FC.

"Wes lived across the road from me and I knew him quite well," said Stephen. "Thomas Morgan lived close by as well, but he was older so I didn't know him too well. " I always loved football and was always a striker. I was a striker when I first went to Belvedere when I was seven and have always played there. I always liked scoring goals."

Stephen spent eight seasons with Belvedere before he moved to England with Manchester City. He signed for Sunderland in 2004 and continues to impress his new manager Mick McCarthy with his goal scoring tally.

The Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr also has great hopes for the tricky striker. He had no qualms about calling the striker into the Republic of Ireland Under 19 squad in 2001 despite him still being eligible for the Under 18 team, and Stephen rewarded Kerr's faith with a goal in the famous play-off victory over Holland in Rotterdam.

Stephen's international career continued to blossom. A call-up to the Under 21 squad resulted in a hat-trick on his first start against Poland and manager Don Givens confirmed that he expected the striker to be a fixture in the side over the next two years while he his place in the Under 20 panel for the World Youth Championships in 2003 was never really in doubt.

"It's nice to hear things like that, but I don't really pay attention. I just concentrate on the next game because a few bad games and you find yourself out of the team."

Stephen made his senior international debut for the Republic of Ireland against Croatia at Landsdowne Road on Tuesday 16th November 2004.

He scored the only goal of the match against Cyprus in October 2005.