Under-19 Squad

[JR89]

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[TonyD]

Squad named looking towards next season's U19s. For lads born after the 1st of Jan 2004.

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Sam Curtis is going to be some player from what I’ve seen of him. A beast of a lad for 16, and well able to handle LOI at first team level.

[JR89]

Curtis looks a serious prospect for Pats and will be interesting to see whether he moves at 17 to Europe or waits till he's 18 and goes to the UK. Don't think he'll stay here beyond next season anyway.

We'll have to start trying new formations to accommodate all these CBs and given lads like Collins, Omobamidele, and Curtis are decent on the ball and comfortable with coming out of defence with the ball could look to bring back the formation Hungary's Golden Team used to accommodate our defenders for the craic.

[CSAD]

Curtis looks a serious prospect for Pats and will be interesting to see whether he moves at 17 to Europe or waits till he's 18 and goes to the UK. Don't think he'll stay here beyond next season anyway.

We'll have to start trying new formations to accommodate all these CBs and given lads like Collins, Omobamidele, and Curtis are decent on the ball and comfortable with coming out of defence with the ball could look to bring back the formation Hungary's Golden Team used to accommodate our defenders for the craic.

Or just play Curtis as a RB, looks like his natural position imo.

[Razors left peg]

Any word on why Rocco Vata isnt in the squad?

[Trequartista20]

Shamrock Rovers' Aidomo Emakhu being linked with a move to Lecce, with Roma, Wolves, Southampton and Celtic also said to interested.

https://twitter.com/noriordan/status/1531899426863820801

[JR89]

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[elatedscum]

Curtis looks a serious prospect for Pats and will be interesting to see whether he moves at 17 to Europe or waits till he's 18 and goes to the UK. Don't think he'll stay here beyond next season anyway.

We'll have to start trying new formations to accommodate all these CBs and given lads like Collins, Omobamidele, and Curtis are decent on the ball and comfortable with coming out of defence with the ball could look to bring back the formation Hungary's Golden Team used to accommodate our defenders for the craic.

Not sure if he’s grown much recently but was probably 5’8 or 5’9 last time I saw him play. At youth level, comfortable and aggressive enough to play both positions but can’t see his playing primarily as a centre half in senior football if he’s under 6 foot

[Eirambler]

Good news - we've finally found a selection of underage players we can beat an Iceland team with!

[JR89]

Not sure if he’s grown much recently but was probably 5’8 or 5’9 last time I saw him play. At youth level, comfortable and aggressive enough to play both positions but can’t see his playing primarily as a centre half in senior football if he’s under 6 foot

If we stick with a back three could slot in at RCB as well as playing RWB like Coleman has. Similar with Abankwah. 19s used a back three again today and you wonder has Kenny asked underage coaches to change things up. The FAI were pushing 4-3-3 for awhile at underage but you had the seniors, 21s, and 19s all using three at the back in March.

[gally]

Did the under 19s play today?

[SkStu]

Did the under 19s play today?

Yes, lost 1-0 to Iceland.

[JR89]

U19s keeper Josh Keeley signs for Spurs.

[Jd2793]

U19s keeper Josh Keeley signs for Spurs.

cant make sense of this. was he holding out and not signing a deal with pats to say he hasnt played? loaned another keeper this year and signed odomusu as a 2nd choice??

[elatedscum]

cant make sense of this. was he holding out and not signing a deal with pats to say he hasnt played? loaned another keeper this year and signed odomusu as a 2nd choice??

I don’t really get what you mean? He was third choice at Pats. He’s just turned 19. He’s a very promising keeper and I really rate him but he’s our third choice from that u19 class behind Arlo Doherty and Dan Rose. Meanwhile Odumosu when he was playing was 2nd choice for the 21s. Odumosu is better currently keeper but obviously two years older. And clearly they rate the West Ham keeper higher than Odumosu.

[Jd2793]

I don’t really get what you mean? He was third choice at Pats. He’s just turned 19. He’s a very promising keeper and I really rate him but he’s our third choice from that u19 class behind Arlo Doherty and Dan Rose. Meanwhile Odumosu when he was playing was 2nd choice for the 21s. Odumosu is better currently keeper but obviously two years older. And clearly they rate the West Ham keeper higher than Odumosu.

how is a guy wanted by spurs not at least challenging to be no1 at pats? hes comfortably 3rd choice aswell , clancy went out at brought odumosu in after his few trials in uk. i dont think odumosu is up to much tbh, just surprising pats havent trusted this guy more? normally pretty good at playing kids once they have the ability, age means little to them.

[CSAD]

how is a guy wanted by spurs not at least challenging to be no1 at pats? hes comfortably 3rd choice aswell , clancy went out at brought odumosu in after his few trials in uk. i dont think odumosu is up to much tbh, just surprising pats havent trusted this guy more? normally pretty good at playing kids once they have the ability, age means little to them.

Could it be that he’s focusing on his Leaving Cert? Unless he did it last year.

[Stav]

He played last year against Finn Harps. Got the treatment on his first corner and did well in the game. New manager sees things differently. Once Clancy signed Odumosu he was always going to have him as No 1 or 2. He was his keeper last year at Drogheda. Assume loan keeper has to be played.
Great move for Josh and money for Pats so everyone is a winner. Wish him the best of luck.

[liamoo11]

https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mu19-mohan-calls-in-players-for-uk-camp

Mix of home and foreign based players. Osagie seems to have just signed for Celtic from West ham and idiakhoa seems to have come through from the lower leagues to get a move to Luton having been at cherry Orchard previously.

[elatedscum]

Cian Coleman missing!

[JR89]

Clubs don't have to release players. Few lads missing like Abankwah, Murphy, Curtis, Ferizaj, Grehan, Brooks. Mohan probably wants to get a look at some new faces and few lads that have been in previous camps with others not available atm.

Ronan Maher made his debut for Walsall at the weekend and had been in with the U15s and U16s a few years ago. Hopefully they get a chance to meet up again before the qualifiers at the end of September. Normally they'd have a camp with games the month before the qualifiers but half of them are being played in September instead this season.

[Eirambler]

Unbelievable - I saw that Osagie lad signing for Celtic last week and honestly though that's good, they're taking their speculative punts on non-Irish players this year for a change.

Then he goes and gets called up to our Under 19s a few days later!

[tetsujin1979]

https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mu19-mohan-calls-in-players-for-uk-camp

Mix of home and foreign based players. Osagie seems to have just signed for Celtic from West ham and idiakhoa seems to have come through from the lower leagues to get a move to Luton having been at cherry Orchard previously.
Frankie Deane's dad follows me on twitter. He's a teacher in Glasgow, big Ireland fan. Frankie only signed for Burnley two weeks ago, and I was surprised Celtic didn't offer him a new deal.

[Eirambler]

and I was surprised Celtic didn't offer him a new deal.

A blessing in disguise I would suggest.

[CSAD]

Unbelievable - I saw that Osagie lad signing for Celtic last week and honestly though that's good, they're taking their speculative punts on non-Irish players this year for a change.

Then he goes and gets called up to our Under 19s a few days later!

It makes sense though, only an Irish player would be brainless enough to go to Celtic as a youngster.

[Razors left peg]

It makes sense though, only an Irish player would be brainless enough to go to Celtic as a youngster.

This thing of Celtic not playing youngsters is way over stated. If they are good enough they play. We complain that we sent a "good" batch of players there when Lennon was in charge and none got a chance. Luca Connell, Afolabi, Coffey... where are they now. Connell in L1, Afolabi and Coffey with no clubs. All had crap loans while at Celtic. A striker like Afolabi needs to be getting 20 goals in the Scottish Championship while on loan to get near Celtic 1st team, instead Im not sure he got 3.

The young players going there have to take responsibility too. If a player is good enough Celtic will give you a chance as they have with plenty of players over the years. But its also a club that has Internationals in every position. Whether they are top end of world football is irrelevant, for the most part International players at Celtic are very very good pros and its not easy to displace them as young player.

I think there is often the thought that because Scottish football is a bit crap it should be an easy route to 1st team football. That might be true of most clubs outside of the big 2, but if you go to Celtic with the attitude that you are going to stroll into the team and not put the work in then you will not get anywhere there.

Instead of the constant lazy narrative that Celtic is poor for young Irish players, maybe we should be seeing that most of these players just werent/arent good enough

[CSAD]

This thing of Celtic not playing youngsters is way over stated. If they are good enough they play. We complain that we sent a "good" batch of players there when Lennon was in charge and none got a chance. Luca Connell, Afolabi, Coffey... where are they now. Connell in L1, Afolabi and Coffey with no clubs. All had crap loans while at Celtic. A striker like Afolabi needs to be getting 20 goals in the Scottish Championship while on loan to get near Celtic 1st team, instead Im not sure he got 3.

The young players going there have to take responsibility too. If a player is good enough Celtic will give you a chance as they have with plenty of players over the years. But its also a club that has Internationals in every position. Whether they are top end of world football is irrelevant, for the most part International players at Celtic are very very good pros and its not easy to displace them as young player.

I think there is often the thought that because Scottish football is a bit crap it should be an easy route to 1st team football. That might be true of most clubs outside of the big 2, but if you go to Celtic with the attitude that you are going to stroll into the team and not put the work in then you will not get anywhere there.

Instead of the constant lazy narrative that Celtic is poor for young Irish players, maybe we should be seeing that most of these players just werent/arent good enough

They are playing Kenny who was scoring goals for fun in the LOI in the 5th division every week…that should tell you a story in itself about how bad Celtic are at developing youngsters. I simply go by Celtic’s recent track record of developing youngsters from their academy, either they are terrible at developing youth or they are terrible at giving youth a chance, which one is it? The trend I see with Irish players is they seem to leave Celtic worse player than when they came in.

They won’t be good enough because they arrive as kids and Celtic won’t do much at developing them and they’ll end up leaving on a free a few years later.

I’m still sort of in disbelief that there are still people on here trying to defend Celtic like I said above when you have someone like Johnny Kenny who was a star in the LOI playing in the 5th division in Scotland every week that should speak volumes as too how badly they are at bringing players through, it’s quite evidently clear he should be if not in the Celtic squad on loan at another SPL side, the way his development is being dealt with just reconfirms what I’ve always thought about Celtic.

A young player will never be brought through it h because of one impresses the word will be “he’s not ready”…well no **** he isn’t ready, he’s playing in the 5th division every week…

[ontheotherhand]

They are playing Kenny who was scoring goals for fun in the LOI in the 5th division every week…that should tell you a story in itself about how bad Celtic are at developing youngsters. I simply go by Celtic’s recent track record of developing youngsters from their academy, either they are terrible at developing youth or they are terrible at giving youth a chance, which one is it? The trend I see with Irish players is they seem to leave Celtic worse player than when they came in.

They won’t be good enough because they arrive as kids and Celtic won’t do much at developing them and they’ll end up leaving on a free a few years later.

I’m still sort of in disbelief that there are still people on here trying to defend Celtic like I said above when you have someone like Johnny Kenny who was a star in the LOI playing in the 5th division in Scotland every week that should speak volumes as too how badly they are at bringing players through, it’s quite evidently clear he should be if not in the Celtic squad on loan at another SPL side, the way his development is being dealt with just reconfirms what I’ve always thought about Celtic.

A young player will never be brought through it h because of one impresses the word will be “he’s not ready”…well no **** he isn’t ready, he’s playing in the 5th division every week…

11 goals in 31 games is scoring for fun? He's a long way off playing at Celtic's level. He was completely bullied against Rovers and had to be taken off at half time in his last outing. I'm not knocking the lad. He has loads of potential but let's not rewrite history to prove a point, even if I do agree that Celtic seem to buy Irish players without a clear pathway to developing them. It almost seems like they just want to keep a semblance of an Irish connection at times.

[Razors left peg]

They are playing Kenny who was scoring goals for fun in the LOI in the 5th division every week…that should tell you a story in itself about how bad Celtic are at developing youngsters. I simply go by Celtic’s recent track record of developing youngsters from their academy, either they are terrible at developing youth or they are terrible at giving youth a chance, which one is it? The trend I see with Irish players is they seem to leave Celtic worse player than when they came in.

They won’t be good enough because they arrive as kids and Celtic won’t do much at developing them and they’ll end up leaving on a free a few years later.

I’m still sort of in disbelief that there are still people on here trying to defend Celtic like I said above when you have someone like Johnny Kenny who was a star in the LOI playing in the 5th division in Scotland every week that should speak volumes as too how badly they are at bringing players through, it’s quite evidently clear he should be if not in the Celtic squad on loan at another SPL side, the way his development is being dealt with just reconfirms what I’ve always thought about Celtic.

A young player will never be brought through it h because of one impresses the word will be “he’s not ready”…well no **** he isn’t ready, he’s playing in the 5th division every week…

But If Kenny went to Southampton for example would his pathway to 1st team football be easier? Being a very good player at LOI level is a million miles away for how exceptional you have to be to breakthough at big clubs or clubs in big leagues.

If Kenny is playing in the 5th tier of Scottish football then its up to him to be far and away the best striker in that division for Celtic 1st team to even consider him.

[CSAD]

11 goals in 31 games is scoring for fun? He's a long way off playing at Celtic's level. He was completely bullied against Rovers and had to be taken off at half time in his last outing. I'm not knocking the lad. He has loads of potential but let's not rewrite history to prove a point, even if I do agree that Celtic seem to buy Irish players without a clear pathway to developing them. It almost seems like they just want to keep a semblance of an Irish connection at times.

If you read my comment it you can clearly see that I’ve said if he’s not able to play for Celtic he should be on loan at an SPL team. I’m curious to know if playing for Sligo doesn’t get up to Celtic’s level on what universe does playing in the 5th division with kids will? If this is considered satisfactory for him development development by Celtic then it probably explains why Celtic are so bad at developing players.
Kenny’s treatment shows they haven’t any real plan at developing him, Lawal and Vata may have a point at keeping them arou das they haven’t played adults football but there is no situation where Kenny playing for the B side will be for his benefit.

Celtic just terrible at developing players and trying to deny this is just fooling yourself, that fact fans have to go back all the way to Kieran Tierney nearly 6 years ago now proves my point.

[ontheotherhand]

If you read my comment it you can clearly see that I’ve said if he’s not able to play for Celtic he should be on loan at an SPL team. I’m curious to know if playing for Sligo doesn’t get up to Celtic’s level on what universe does playing in the 5th division with kids will? If this is considered satisfactory for him development development by Celtic then it probably explains why Celtic are so bad at developing players.

Celtic just terrible at developing players and trying to deny this is just fooling yourself, that fact fans have to go back all the way to Kieran Tierney nearly 6 years ago now proves my point.

I agree with you that they don't seem to have a great pathway, just not that he was scoring for fun here. He absolutely has potential but saying he was dominant at our level isn't accurate. He was good for his age. Long way to go to be knocking on the door at Celtic's level. As we've seen with Scales.

[Eirambler]

Nobody is suggesting that these lads should be walking into the Celtic team. The point being made is that, if Celtic are going to sign them, they need to provide a clear pathway so that a player can develop and become a first team player in time if they become good enough.

But the current pathway seems to be either the Scottish fifth tier or a loan to one of the lower Scottish league divisions. Neither of those provide a platform for a talented young player to develop and there's no obvious sign that the Coaching at Celtic is doing anything much for them either.

Someone made a comparison to Southampton, but if a young Irish player goes to Southampton they can at least hope to be given decent loans in the English league if they're anyway decent. At Celtic they're unlikely to get a loan at that level - the equivalent in Scotland would be a bottom half SPL team and those clubs don't tend to loan Celtic players unless they have first team experience.

So basically Celtic don't have the structure in place to get the best out of young players - so any developing player would be well advised to steer well clear. To simply say that they'd be playing if they were good enough is just wilfully ignoring the underlying issues - if it was a club other than Celtic I doubt the same would be said.

[CSAD]

I agree with you that they don't seem to have a great pathway, just not that he was scoring for fun here. He absolutely has potential but saying he was dominant at our level isn't accurate. He was good for his age. Long way to go to be knocking on the door at Celtic's level. As we've seen with Scales.

He’ll never be knocking at the door while at Celtic though, that’s my point. He should be on loan at another SPL side, that’s what will potentially get him to that level, this nonsense of playing in the 5th division is just a waste of his time.

[ontheotherhand]

He’ll never be knocking at the door while at Celtic though, that’s my point. He should be on loan at another SPL side, that’s what will potentially get him to that level, this nonsense of playing in the 5th division is just a waste of his time.

Yeah we agree. They should have loaned him back to Sligo if they didn't have a better place for him to go.

[CSAD]

Nobody is suggesting that these lads should be walking into the Celtic team. The point being made is that, if Celtic are going to sign them, they need to provide a clear pathway so that a player can develop and become a first team player in time if they become good enough.

But the current pathway seems to be either the Scottish fifth tier or a loan to one of the lower Scottish league divisions. Neither of those provide a platform for a talented young player to develop and there's no obvious sign that the Coaching at Celtic is doing anything much for them either.

Someone made a comparison to Southampton, but if a young Irish player goes to Southampton they can at least hope to be given decent loans in the English league if they're anyway decent. At Celtic they're unlikely to get a loan at that level - the equivalent in Scotland would be a bottom half SPL team and those clubs don't tend to loan Celtic players unless they have first team experience.

So basically Celtic don't have the structure in place to get the best out of young players - so any developing player would be well advised to steer well clear. To simply say that they'd be playing if they were good enough is just wilfully ignoring the underlying issues - if it was a club other than Celtic I doubt the same would be said.

They don’t have a clear pathway though… that’s my point. Bosun Lawal is the captain and best placed player to play for Celtic based on his performances for the 2nd team and we saw when he played for Celtic during the summer just how difficult it was for him to step up… at 19 years old, if that doesn’t show how poor the pathway is then what does?

Like you said it’s willfully ignoring the underlying issues.

[tetsujin1979]

Few reports on twitter that Cristiano Fitzgerald has signed a professional contract with Boavista, and has been added to their senior squad. Nothing official from the club yet.
He does have some photos from training on his instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristiano_fitzgerald/

[JR89]

Ferizaj turned down a call from Albania about switching to them to play with their senior team.

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[tommy_c12000]

Interesting, source? Assume it’s his dad who’s very proactive on Twitter

[tommy_c12000]

Thoughts on best move for him when he turns 18 early next year? Probably England, although I wouldn’t be opposed to Germany. Italy not exactly a place to develop players well, as Zefi ties his boots to get ready to play against Verona under 18s today…..

[JR89]

Hopefully it's somewhere where the route to the senior team isn't that difficult. He'll only be 18 and could even afford to go somewhere like a Belgium for a couple of seasons. Dad says his agent wanted him to join Sampdoria but he begged him to remain with Rovers for the time being. Chelsea, City, and Roma have also showed some interest in him.

His dad is very vocal on Twitter and has said he wants the lad to give back to Ireland by playing with us as this country has given them so much.

[nigel-harps1954]

Genuinely, while they are winning leagues, and competing in Europe with a good chance of group stages again next year, he's better off sticking with Shamrock Rovers for another year, maybe even two or three. A settled 20/21 year old with 100 senior appearances and European football behind him would stand him in better stead than finding his feet at a new club and possibly being shoved into a youth setup somewhere else.

[Eirambler]

Hopefully it's somewhere where the route to the senior team isn't that difficult. He'll only be 18 and could even afford to go somewhere like a Belgium for a couple of seasons. Dad says his agent wanted him to join Sampdoria but he begged him to remain with Rovers for the time being. Chelsea, City, and Roma have also showed some interest in him.

His dad is very vocal on Twitter and has said he wants the lad to give back to Ireland by playing with us as this country has given them so much.

Is his agent Ireland or Carr by any chance? They seem hell bent on sending young Irish lads off to Italy whether it's in their best interests or not.

[tommy_c12000]

Zefi scored his first of the season today in a 2-2 in their u18s opener vs Verona. Obviously no point getting too excited. More concerning to me that he isn’t automatically in their primavera team. Will hopefully progress to U19 soon, then loan spell next season

[JR89]

Wouldn't be able to sign for any team in England until December 2023 anyway till he turns 18.

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[tetsujin1979]

Says in the article there's a chance he could sign for city's Belgium affiliated club Lommel SK before moving to the UK

[gastric]

It took a long time for a Meath player to play internationally for Ireland, and now we have Ferguson and Curtis with hopefully bright futures. Exciting!

[tetsujin1979]

Cristiano Fitzgerald played for Boavista in a friendly against Bordeux on Friday
Has some photos on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRzlv0IzT_/

[JR89]

Cristiano Fitzgerald played for Boavista in a friendly against Bordeux on Friday
Has some photos on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmRzlv0IzT_/

Signed a contract today till 2026.

[tetsujin1979]

Signed a contract today till 2026. that's two contacts in less than six months, pretty good going!
Wonder if he'll be involved in their league cup game tomorrow?

[tetsujin1979]

Cristiano Fitzgerald interviewed this morning on Off The Ball
Starts here at 1:04:50
https://www.goloudnow.com/podcasts/otb-am-30/andy-mitten-rugby-depth-chart-virtual-insanity-cristiano-otb-am-383362

It's not a great interview to be honest, at the end of the day he's a 19 year old kid being interviewed by two adults. He's not yet a great speaker and they're dragging answers out of him

On their YouTube channel now, if anything it's worse in video form. He clearly doesn't want to talk to them and they're almost answering their own questions.
DixN978WjiI