Under-19 Squad

[elatedscum]

Playing Sobawele at right back speaks volumes about the lack of a good right back at that level.
Wonder if Harvey Neville is any good. McEvoy at the u17s last year was probably the weak link in that side...
Good centre halves though. Think I like Sobawele most, followed by Omobamidele, then McEntee, then McGuinness. Have never seen Richards (or Boyce) play.

[Eirambler]

We seem to have a general shortage of full backs coming through compared to pretty much every other position. Heaps of centre backs though.

[tommy_c12000]

Anyone attend and have a report? I saw they lost 1-0

[tetsujin1979]

Okoflex interviewed on Celtic's YouTube channel
Usual football interview - doesn't really say anything interesting to be honest
MX6V_-GVH3s

[Razors left peg]

Okoflex interviewed on Celtic's YouTube channel
Usual football interview - doesn't really say anything interesting to be honest
MX6V_-GVH3s

Hasnt kept much of the Dublin accent. Does say that his country is Nigeria. The kid has a lot of options to be fair. It does show that its not always as black and white as you are Irish or not

[tommy_c12000]

Any news on this squad for next weeks qualifiers? Same squad as last month?

[tetsujin1979]

Conor Noß is training with the Borussia Moenchengladbach first team ahead of the resumption of the Bundesliga this weekend
1260220557687164928

[tetsujin1979]

Found this recent interview with Noß(in German): https://www.gladbachlive.de/news/gladbach-rose-sorgt-mit-quizera-noss-kurt-und-co-vor-12747
Translated: https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&pto=aue&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://www.gladbachlive.de/news/gladbach-marco-rose-hat-u19-talent-conor-noss-im-blick-12672&usg=ALkJrhgYypwMhL4yv_8XNJ0lxcAjlDglqw
On how he qualifies

Conor Noß is an Irish citizen

What strikes you immediately: You were born in Düsseldorf, but you have Irish citizenship. Where exactly does your family come from?
My mother is Irish, she is originally from Dublin. She came to Germany at the age of 18 and met my father here. Then you stayed together in Germany and that's how I was born in Düsseldorf. Much of our family still lives in Ireland - my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins. That's why I'm there regularly and visit them.

[tetsujin1979]

'If they slack off now it can be a major problem' - Ireland U19 boss Tom Mohan sure next generation will keep focus: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/if-they-slack-off-now-it-can-be-a-major-problem-ireland-u19-boss-tom-mohan-sure-next-generation-will-keep-focus-39207777.html

(marked as a premium article, but it appears to be available for now)

[tetsujin1979]

Changes to the U19 Championship to follow a Nations League-style setup: https://www.uefa.com/under19/news/0257-0debe6d21fe9-def6d9192acc-1000--new-nations-league-format-for-u19-euro/
Looks like a bigger head scratcher than the NL

[Charlie Darwin]

That might actually be very good for us considering the level our players have been at the last few years.

[tetsujin1979]

36 players to be called into under 19 training camp: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/u19-first-steps-to-return-with-uk-based-u19s-and-goalkeeping-camp

[elatedscum]

Do we have any names apart from Josh Ireland?

[Eirambler]

No official squad so far and there may not be one announced as it is just a training camp. However Cian Kelly, Josh Clarke, Cian Coleman, Ben Andreucci, Ola Ibrahim, Owen Mason and Jay McGrath will apparently all be involved.

A few new names there.

[Charlie Darwin]

I don't think there's an official list yet, hopefully the FAI will publish one. Just based on a combination of names mentioned online and players who would be the right age for a call up these would be the kinds of players you might expect to see involved:

Cian Coleman (Leeds)
Ben Andreucci (Leeds)
Owen Mason (Mansfield)
Josh Clarke (Bournemouth)
Anselmo Garcia McNulty (Wolfsburg)
Sean Roughan (Lincoln)
Andrew Moran (Brighton)
Evan Ferguson (Brighton)
Olamide Ibrahim (Derby)
Omotayo Adamarolo (Crystal Palace)
Leigh Kavanagh (Brighton)
Sinclair Armstrong (QPR)
Bosun Lawal (Watford)
Josh Okpolokpo (Huddersfield)
Aaron O'Reilly (Aston Villa)
Calum Kavanagh (Middlesbrough)
Ollie O'Neill (Fulham)
Johnny Kenny (Sligo Rovers)
Joshua Ireland (Stoke)
FAI said it's UK-based players only so wouldn't expect McNulty or Kenny.

[elatedscum]

Twitter reports saying that Gaxha is part of the group. Bit weird since he’s 2002 and everyone else mentioned is 2003 or 2004.

[tetsujin1979]

Doesn't make a lot of sense, his birthday is March 2002, so he'd be ineligible for next years under 19 Championship - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-19_Championship - so why include him in the training camp?

players born on or after 1 January 2003 eligible to participate

[The Fly]

1394613446616956928

[ColourfulPeanut]

Are the FAI going to release a list? It's odd that it's tomorrow and on sign of an official annoucement!

Good to see Gilsenan there. Hadn't he declared for Australia previously?

[tetsujin1979]

yep, has photos of him playing for Australia on his instagram

[tommy_c12000]

Great to see a big squad of youngsters, Mohan is leaving no stone unturned

[Olé Olé]

Josh Ireland, Andreucci and Gilsenan have all featured quite recently with other nations. Am I missing anyone else? This is a training camp held in the centre of England which is quite accessible. I'd be interested to see if the likes of this trio are considering their decision to attend a training camp to be the first step to switching to representing Ireland.

Gilsenan in particular- ok, some in Australia might ask if there's a commitment issue but I'm sure they'd still pick him if he turned around after this and confirmed he was sticking with Australia. Otherwise, it's a win-win for him.

[ColourfulPeanut]

Josh Clarke has featured for both England and Sweden recently too.

This camp is a good chance to make a good impression to all these dual nationals we have coming through at a minimum. Good to see a proactive approach.

[tetsujin1979]

Full list of players called up: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/u19-mohan-looks-at-u19-options-at-uk-camp
Interesting that the article describes them as "Irish eligible"

Aaron O'Reilly (Aston Villa)
Connor Barratt (Birmingham City)
Will Blease (Blackburn Rovers)
Zak Gilsenan (Blackburn Rovers)
Rio McEvoy (Bolton Wanderers)
Ruairi Behan (Burnley)
Ciaran Gilligan (Burton Albion)
Jay McGrath (Coventry City)
Fionn O'Brien (Coventry City)
Noah Watson (Crystal Palace)
Ola Ibrahim (Derby County)
Cian Kelly Caprani (Derby County)
Cian Coleman (Leeds United)
Ben Andreucci (Leeds United)
Arlo Doherty (Leicester City)
Billy Brooks (Lincoln City)
Matthew Boylan (Lincoln City)
Ed McJannett (Luton Town)
Owen Mason (Mansfield Town)
Callum Kavanagh (Middlesbrough)
Sam Blair (Norwich City)
Osakpolor Solomon (Nottingham Forest)
Josh Seary (Preston North End)
Harry Nevin (Preston North End)
Jacob Slater (Preston North End)
Sinclair Armstrong (QPR)
Harvey Cullinan (Sheffield United)
Leonardo Gaxha (Sheffield United)
Luke Pearce (Southampton)
Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois)
David Okagbue (Stoke City)
Joshua Ireland (Stoke City)
Sam Knowles (Stoke City)
Caden Kelly (Sunderland)
Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur)
Bosun Lawall (Watford)
Joe O'Shaugnessy (Wolves)

[jbyrne]

is Joshua Ireland stephen irelands son??

[Olé Olé]

is Joshua Ireland stephen irelands son??
Yep. John McGrath and Graham Kavanagh have sons (Jay and Callum) in there too.

[tetsujin1979]

Something I didn't know until recently is that Graham Kavanagh is married to Liam O'Brien's sister, so their son has quite the pedigree.

[tetsujin1979]

From the list above, this name is interesting - and the only one based outside England

Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois)
Played for Home Farm, Swords, and Shamrock Rovers, before signing for Stade last year. Based on a quick search, it seems his father, Stephane, played for Dundalk in the late 90s

[seanfhear]

Full list of players released: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/u19-mohan-looks-at-u19-options-at-uk-camp
Interesting that the article describes them as "Irish eligible"
A sort of United Nations squad !

[Olé Olé]

Full list of players released: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/u19-mohan-looks-at-u19-options-at-uk-camp
Interesting that the article describes them as "Irish eligible"

I have been googling a lot of the names to get a bit of background. A significant chunk of them are English-born and have not been involved with Ireland before. I don't have a particular issue with that but I don't know if the purpose of the camp is very clear.

Are there players that are eligible for our under 19 side that have been involved with us before that are not in this group and is there a reason why they are not included?

[pineapple stu]

I have been googling a lot of the names to get a bit of background. A significant chunk of them are English-born and have not been involved with Ireland before. I don't have a particular issue with that but I don't know if the purpose of the camp is very clear
I suppose covid restrictions may mean a UK-based squad makes sense. if that were a full squad, I'd be concerned at what it meant for the LoI underage revamp

I don't think we should get too attached to these guys yet - there'll be a Declan Rice or two there - but we can only ask at this stage

[SkStu]

I have been googling a lot of the names to get a bit of background. A significant chunk of them are English-born and have not been involved with Ireland before. I don't have a particular issue with that but I don't know if the purpose of the camp is very clear.

I am sure it is really just to make them feel welcome, get them a little excited, expose them to the irish set-up and management teams and share the stories and videos from the golden years 1916, 1988, 1990, 1994, 2002. Maybe convince a few of them to stay with us - and take up arms in the fight to end British rule in Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent, socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland.

[Olé Olé]

Okay. I'm just not up to speed with this age group. Are there not that many Irish-born players based in England eligible for that age group?

[pineapple stu]

Fair point; don't know tbh. Numbers in England have been dwindling steadily the last 20 years so it wouldn't entirely surprise me. How many are foreign-born?

[Eirambler]

Well the fact that Andrew Moran and Roughan and the likes aren't in there suggests this is far from a full strength squad. Will certainly keep Kenny's Kids and the likes busy now that they have 20 or so new names to follow in the Under 18 and 23 leagues in England.

[Razors left peg]

Well the fact that Andrew Moran and Roughan and the likes aren't in there suggests this is far from a full strength squad. Will certainly keep Kenny's Kids and the likes busy now that they have 20 or so new names to follow in the Under 18 and 23 leagues in England.

Roughan is on trial with Chelsea right now so hes probably trying to sort out his move and this camp would be bad timing.

Moran will most likely be in the U21s Id say along Tom Canon who is also an obvious miss from this squad

[elatedscum]

Well the fact that Andrew Moran and Roughan and the likes aren't in there suggests this is far from a full strength squad. Will certainly keep Kenny's Kids and the likes busy now that they have 20 or so new names to follow in the Under 18 and 23 leagues in England.

I'd only know of about half the players but good to see the likes of Josh Ireland, Ola Ibrahim and Zak Gilsenen there. Plenty of good players like Calum Kavanagh, Kelly Capriani, Armstrong, Gaxha, Lawall...

I'd suspect they're thinking that the 2003 group only had a single camp at U17s and the 2004 group didn't have any. Normally by now, each age group would have had 30-40 players in each year to call upon. Positive to have an opportunity to look at players in greater detail

It's also possible there were issues in releasing some of the players. Anyone playing in the championship or league 1 should be fine but if Brighton or Fulham or whoever wanted to keep a player training to make up numbers, they wouldn't be allowed to travel.

Obviously, you've got the like of Moran, Roughan, Ferguson, O'Neill, Harkin, Adaramolo in England who you'd imagine would be part of an official squad.

Then you've got the likes of McNulty, McLoughlin, Finn, Rose and Zefi based in Europe and home based players like Kenny, McCormack, Banya, Hand, Kelley, O'Brien, Cian Kavanagh and O'Kane.

[Olé Olé]

https://www.lancs.live/sport/football/football-news/blackburn-rovers-liverpool-barcelona-academy-18006589

Gilsenan seemed to be keen on Australia as of last year. I believe both his parents are Irish though?

[Eminence Grise]

Great to see a big squad of youngsters, Mohan is leaving no stone unturned

Unlike the senior team where there's no turn unstoned.

Chances of a world-class player emerging? Slim enough, I suppose. But there's always blind optimism.

[nigel-harps1954]

Okay. I'm just not up to speed with this age group. Are there not that many Irish-born players based in England eligible for that age group?

I would assume the Irish born players are home for a few weeks now that their seasons are finished. Far as I'm aware, there's an Irish based camp in two weeks time.

[sadloserkid]

From the list above, this name is interesting - and the only one based outside England

Played for Home Farm, Swords, and Shamrock Rovers, before signing for Stade last year. Based on a quick seatch, it seems his father, Stephane, played for Dundalk in the late 90s

Stephane Jauny also played briefly for Limerick in the season (one of them) that we finished comfortably bottom of the First Division up in Pike. It was an atrocious squad, the worst by some distance that I've ever seen play for Limerick (and that's covering some depth of what I'll charitably call mediocrity over the last 20 odd years) and he still managed to stand out as being particularly unsuited.

He was French and had a shaved head which inevitably and unfairly drew comparisons with Zidane. "We signed him from Crusaders," the club informed us with us a smile. "He was on trial and we had no interest in signing him," Crusaders added when asked what they felt about him. As for Jauny himself... he possessed an absolute superpower for constantly, consistently arriving at the spot where the ball had been about 2 seconds earlier. He was always on the move and never quite arrived. He didn't stay long, he was not overly missed and I hadn't thought of him in years until today. I love football. :D

[elatedscum]

Okay. I'm just not up to speed with this age group. Are there not that many Irish-born players based in England eligible for that age group?


I would assume the Irish born players are home for a few weeks now that their seasons are finished. Far as I'm aware, there's an Irish based camp in two weeks time.

It is also the most home based age group for a long time. If I remember correctly 14/20 of them were in Ireland playing U17s in the first qualifiers.

6 based abroad were Danny Rose (Everton, now Schalke), Lawal (Watford), Tayo (Palace), Callum Kavanagh (Boro), Ollie O’Neill (Fulham) and Garcia-McNulty (Betis, now Wolfsburg).

A few have since moved across to england, 3 to brighton (Ferguson, Moran and Leigh Kavanagh) and Sinclair Armstrong to QPR. The other 10 are still at home.

But you’ve also got a few players playing LOI this season who weren’t in the squad but have a good shout now: Johnny Kenny at Sligo, Cian Kavanagh at Waterford and Ryan O’Kane at Dundalk. Probably some others I haven’t seen.

Whereas if I think of the last U19s squad before lockdown with players from 2001, there weren’t many players home based players: the backup keeper Sean Bohan and Ross Tierney, both at Bohs. That was all. Generally I think it’d be around 1-4 home based players but you could easily see double that or more this time around.

Anyway, whether it’s the beginning of a trend due to Brexit or the first group of players who have been probably embedded into LOI sides due to the earlier integration and the LOI U17s, 15s 13s etc, the 2003 group are by far the most home based underage side since probably the days of Kerr.

[Eirambler]

Being honest, is another reason so many are home based simply that they were passed over by overseas clubs based on ability and that, after a run of years with a lot of squad depth at underage, the same depth just isn't there with the 2003s and 2004s?

That theory would explain the need to hold a non-committal UK camp with every remotely qualified Irish player they can find to see if they can source a few decent ones to pad out the squad.

[Olé Olé]

Being honest, is another reason so many are home based simply that they were passed over by overseas clubs based on ability and that, after a run of years with a lot of squad depth at underage, the same depth just isn't there with the 2003s and 2004s?

That theory would explain the need to hold a non-committal UK camp with every remotely qualified Irish player they can find to see if they can source a few decent ones to pad out the squad.

That's speculative. The few years preceding have seen some very good young players become established at English clubs. There is no recent trend to support your point. And even if the numbers are lower that could be offset by younger players preferring to stay in Ireland or getting more opportunities in the LOI or English clubs taking less players from Ireland but the strike rate improving because the players are being brought over for a reason.

Surely the FAI wouldn't just seek to "pad out the squad" with thinly committed players when there would still be young players in Ireland? I don't think that would be aligned with Kenny's modus operandi and we know he is influential at underage level.

There are a lot of lads that aren't just "remotely qualified" in there too that are presently not committed but I think it's helpful to give them this opportunity. I'm thinking of the likes of Josh Ireland and Zak Gilsenan that have two Irish parents but have featured for other nations.

There are a lot of other lads that I don't think have been involved with us previously that have strong Irish links and might have liked to have been involved sooner. I'm thinking of Ciaran Gilligan and Jay McGrath.

I am not quite sure of the motivation overall here. It seems like they cast the net very wide and definitely did call in a lot of English-born lads from less celebrated academies that surely are not close to the England squad so are delighted to get such a call.

[elatedscum]

Being honest, is another reason so many are home based simply that they were passed over by overseas clubs based on ability and that, after a run of years with a lot of squad depth at underage, the same depth just isn't there with the 2003s and 2004s?

That theory would explain the need to hold a non-committal UK camp with every remotely qualified Irish player they can find to see if they can source a few decent ones to pad out the squad.

Possibly but I wouldn’t think so.

Wasn’t 2003 the year that Paul Osam said was the most talanted he had ever worked with? Could have been 2004 but was definitely one of those two. Generally U16 is when players are moving across or arranging moves, so if they were as talented as Osam thought, then it doesn’t hold up.

The results at 17s were also positive. Won every game (opposition weren’t great). Also Tayo gave an interview at Palace where he said he was shocked how good all of the homegrown players were, something to that effect.

[pineapple stu]

That's speculative. The few years preceding have seen some very good young players become established at English clubs.
Is that not a bit of a stretch? OK, there are some - Knight, Collins, O'Shea - have established themselves, but others like Connolly, Idah, Parrott, Molumby, Kelleher, Coventry, etc - haven't established themselves at all yet. And they're the ones featuring in the national team, so that shows how little depth there is at the moment.

There's fewer players than ever going over to England, which we can see in how weak our national team is lately. The LoI underage is an improvement at home, but while the LoI can't really offer a pro route to the game, it'll be of limited benefit unfortunately.

It does seem an unusual squad - even allowing for it being UK-based presumably because of covid - but I think there may be something in Eirambler's post.

Time will tell I guess.

[Eirambler]

Well I certainly don't mean it as a criticism, the FAI are right to cast the net as wide as they can to source players, especially considering we are a small country where there is heavy competition between four popular team sports which limits the amount of professional standard players we can produce to an extent.

It just seems to me that, for the groups born between 1999 and 2002, we produced an unusually high number of players who were deemed good enough to be picked up by overseas academies. The numbers produced are potentially not sustainable year on year, so we're maybe seeing a bit of regression to the mean with the 03s and 04s. It looks like there are still some very good players, but perhaps not the same level of depth. Then obviously from 05 onwards we have the Brexit issue which is going up change things again - and probably not for the better.

I think running the UK camp fits exactly with Kenny's modus operandi in terms of young players. Funnily enough, for a guy who is so principled on the field - to the point that it will cost him his job before too long I expect - he seems surprisingly pragmatic off the field, and is willing to consider any player who is willing to play for Ireland in the short term, even if they're non committal longer term. Again, this is not a criticism, we need all the players we can get our hands on. I just wish he showed some of the same pragmatism in the way he sets his teams up to play football.

[Eirambler]

Interesting to hear Johansson reference his time with Ireland at Under 19 level as one of his reasons for choosing to declare for us. It does show the benefit of the get togethers like the one this week in England. If dual eligible players remember being selected and made to feel involved from an early stage it can influence their decisions later on when they have to make a final call on who to play their international football with.

[Charlie Darwin]

Unless it happens for a few years I can't see how it can be called a regression to the mean or anything else. It's just a number at a specific moment in time that is liable to change quite quickly, particularly given that new signings for next season are yet to be announced.

[gally]

https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/u19-players-named-for-mohans-ireland-training-camp