McCarthy has been in superb form in Hamilton's midfield this season

Hamilton Academical midfielder James McCarthy has been named the Clydesdale Bank Premier League young player of the month for December.

The 18-year-old has been in superb form for Billy Reid's side and fired a double in December's 2-0 win over Motherwell at New Douglas Park.

McCarthy also starred in last week's victory over Aberdeen which lifted Hamilton to 10th in the table.

The midfielder has represented the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level.

McCarthy turned down the chance to join Liverpool in the summer of 2007 and has since extended his contract with at Hamilton until 2011.

"We started the season great and then had a sticky patch but we're starting to pick up points at home," he said.

"That's three games (in a row) at home we've won so it's a good run and hopefully we can keep it going.

"We know we're good enough to play in the SPL. There's a lot of great teams but we believe in ourselves and we know we can stay up this season as we've got a good team."

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