Under-19 Squad

[tetsujin1979]

Replacement maybe?
could be, O'Reilly was injured recently.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Two Anderlecht players in Irish youth squads.

Robin Walsh has been called up for the U-17 team.

http://www.anderlecht-online.be/article.php?id=23089&lang=fra

[DeLorean]

Republic of Ireland 2-2 Romania (http://www.fai.ie/international/under-19/103809-byrne-doubles-helps-ireland-u19s-to-draw-in-blarney.html)

http://www.fai.ie/images/Ireland_U19s_v_Romania.jpg

[Charlie Darwin]

REPUBLIC of Ireland U19 Head Coach Paul Doolin has named his squad for two friendly games against Mexico's U20 side in Dublin next month.
The Irish will meet the Mexicans at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday, May 13 (7.00pm) then clash with the same opponents at Dalymount Park on Thursday, May 15 (2.00pm).
Mexico are one of the world's top underage international set-ups having won the FIFA World U17 Championships in 2011 and finishing runners-up in the same competition in 2013.
"We are playing one of best underage international teams in the world and they are heading to Toulon tournament so these are brilliant games for us," said Doolin.
"The Mexican games will be two games which will mirror the UEFA Elite Phase which we have in the end of May so worth having. They will be great preparation for us."
Doolin has to plan without Preston North End midfielder Alan Browne for these fixtures as he is in club duty with the League One promotion play-offs.
"It is great to see Alan progressing so well. He's come from being in our home-based squad two years ago to now be doing very well at League One level," said Doolin.
"We didn't have one or two down in Cork for our friendly games against Romania last month and the important thing is to get the lads back into the frame of mind and focus for the UEFA Elite Phase.
"I'm looking forward to working with a few of them again. The Anderlecht goalkeeper Liam Bossin played down in Cork and did well down there. It gives us another opportunity to work with him again.
"Sean Heaney was involved with us against Czech Republic with U18s and is doing well with Rovers at the moment. He's good on the ball which is important in international football. Jack Hallahan from West Brom also played in those games and gives us options as he can play left or right."
The Irish squad at this age group is full of players who can also play U19 level next season and Doolin is pleased with how the younger faces are progressing.
"It's going to be tough for us in the Elite Phase. We'll have a lot of guys getting experience this year which will help them next year.
"Dan Cleary is one of ten 1996s in the squad and it's good to have him in. Connor Dimaio is progressing well with Sheffield United and was very good against Romania. Dylan Barnett is another who was with 17s last year.
"We looked at Mexico from recent games and we know they'll be two tough games. The lads are looking forward to playing in Dublin again and prepare for the Elite Phase."
Ireland's UEFA U19 Championships Elite Qualifying Round fixtures are against Iceland on May 28, Turkey on May 30 and Serbia on June 2. Hungary will stage the final tournament from July 19 to 31 with each of the Elite Qualifying Round group winners joining the hosts in the final tournament.
Republic of Ireland U19 squad:
Eric Grimes (Leeds United)
Liam Bossin (Anderlecht)
Bobby Mosley (Birmingham City)
Noe Baba (Fulham)
Sean Long (Reading)
Kyle McFadden (Norwich City)
Dan Cleary (Liverpool)
Sean Heaney (Shamrock Rovers)
Dean O'Halloran (Fulham)
Liam Kelly (Reading)
Alex O'Hanlon (Liverpool)
Connor Dimaio (Sheffield United)
Thomas Mulroney (St Patrick's Athletic)
Darren Murphy (Cork City)
Dylan Barnett (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Sam Byrne (Manchester United)
Alan O'Sullivan (Aberdeen)
Jack Hallahan (West Bromwich Albion)

[tetsujin1979]

No Jack Byrne from Man City, I think they might be playing the finals of the Academy Premier League at the time though

[Charlie Darwin]

That would probably be it. Alan Browne left out as he'll be playing in the League One play-offs too. Make sense really if you're getting a higher standard at your club.

[liamoo11]

hallanan and cullen from west ham 2 very interesting additions to the 18/19s both eligible next year. cullen played for brits at 16s/17s. Has played lots for hammers 21s centre mid.

http://www.fai.ie/international/youth-teams/under-16/103941-o-connor-names-u16-squad-for-uefa-development-tournament.html this 16s side is very talented put on great show in kerry earlier in year

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Hopefully they aren't that good or else we will lose them to England like Crowley, Bamford and the Keane brothers.

Hopefully they are just Matt Holland good.

[gastric]

Hopefully they aren't that good or else we will lose them to England like Crowley, Bamford and the Keane brothers.

Hopefully they are just Matt Holland good.

Jack Grealish good, thank you very much!

[BonnieShels]

Hopefully they aren't that good or else we will lose them to England like Crowley, Bamford and the Keane brothers.

Hopefully they are just Matt Holland good.


What a frankly bizarre post. AND from a man who has made a career of bizarre posts on Foot.

[gastric]

What a frankly bizarre post. AND from a man who has made a career of bizarre posts on Foot.

And yet Bonnie, I can see what he is trying to say!

[BonnieShels]

I get the sentiment.

But to wish to have less talented players just so they won't get poached by Ingerland is insane.

[tetsujin1979]

No Jack Byrne from Man City, I think they might be playing the finals of the Academy Premier League at the time though
Byrne's after posting on twitter that he's been called into the U21 squad: https://twitter.com/Jackb_8/statuses/465864616724418560

So proud to be called up to Ireland u21s cant wait to put the green jersey back on :D Absolutely over the moon still cant believe it#Proud (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Proud&src=hash)
They're playing Denmark in a friendly at the end of May. Think he would be better off in the U19 qualifiers personally

<EDIT>
Also, Ian Lawlor called into the squad: https://twitter.com/Ianlawlor/statuses/465895074891829248

Buzzing to have been called up to the ireland U21s next week!! #proud (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23proud&src=hash)

[Charlie Darwin]

Brian Lenihan of Cork City has also been called up.

edit: should we just have a thread for the U21s (or do we already?)

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ohanlon-puts-country-before-liverpool-debut-30267952.html

Rodgers wanted to add O'Hanlon to his first-team squad for the upcoming friendly against Shamrock but O'Hanlon has elected to join up with the U-19's.

[Charlie Darwin]

Reading between the lines, you'd think he has more chance of playing for the U19s. Still, would have been nice to have an Irish player play for Liverpool in the Aviva.

[Bungle]

Great to see a young player put his country first. It's a shame it is on at the same time though because even a 20 minute cameo could catch Rodgers eye. It will be a friendly in all but name for the Shamrock Rovers lads and the young liverpool players before a big crowd. Far more to be learnt about a player than playing the West Brom u18s.

[Dodge]

It will be a friendly in all but name for the Shamrock Rovers lads

Just to be clear, it is also a friendly in name for them

[Bungle]

For both teams, I think it will be more than a friendly. The Rovers lads will take it seriously, as will the Liverpool lads who will be mostly made up of young lads. I know a few Liverpool fans who are a bit gutted that their big players aren't going to be playing, but from a spectacle point of view, it will be a much better game. I'd much rather see Ryan McLoughlin or Jordan Rossiter than players concerned about missing the world cup and I'm not a Liverpool fan.

[Dodge]

You've no idea about LOI players if you think they'll treat this as anything other than a friendly. The main aim of this game is to not get injured

[Bungle]

Shamrock Rovers is a great club in their own right and I certainly would not mean to patronise the League of Ireland, which is a league that I support each week.

However, I personally think that the Rovers players will be thrilled to be playing in front of a big crowd and against a great club like Liverpool. Maybe I'm wrong, but I reckon that alot of the Rovers players will have been thinking of this game for weeks, just like they would if Man U or any other big team came to town.

[Stuttgart88]

Paul Doolin looking to follow Jack Charlton's example and to take his squad on a "eat all you can" challenge shortly before they play

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/12226/doolin-looking-forward-to-mexican-challenge-irish-u19s/

[Charlie Darwin]

Mejico 1-0 up after 20 minutes.

[tetsujin1979]

Cracking finish too, volley from just inside the area

[tetsujin1979]

2-0 now, close range finish just before half time

[tetsujin1979]

finished 3-0.
Mexico were pretty much in control for about 70% of the game, their movement was excellent and played some wonderful one touch passes.
For Ireland I was impressed with Moseley at left full and Hallahan seems to have a trick about him too. O'Hanlon did well to find space when he was on the ball, but despite being bigger than most of the Irish side, didn't seem to be very physical.
Byrne was isolated up front, the midfield five near really seemed to get close enough to him to . I got the impression that he was one of those kids who grew a little earlier than everyone else was bigger than the rest of his age group, and just used his strength in his favour. Having said that, he did create the best chance for Ireland of the first half with a cutback from the byline just inside the Mexican area to Mulroney near the penalty spot, who fluffed his shot and deflected the ball wide

Mexico's number seven was amazing, there were some scouts sitting behind me (well I think they were scouts, older gentlemen in club jackets, one from Leicester) and they'd have to have been impressed by him

[Charlie Darwin]

How much was it, tets? Was working tonight so couldn't make it down.

From Doolin's comments before the game, he seemed to be suggested Mexico are a step up from the sides the players are used to facing, and they're a year older as well. Was it a useful exercise do you think?

[tetsujin1979]

five euro in, free for children. not bad

they were definitely a step ahead of the Irish players. one thing I noticed was that when whoever was receiving the ball from defence was in possession, the other CMs and O'Halloran ran away from the ball, a few times the CM (either Dimaio, or O'Hanlon or Mulroney) was outnumbered by the opposition. Hallahan didn't do it as much, and there was some good interplay between him and Moseley at left full.
It's hard to tell if it was worthwhile or not right now, I guess it'll be more obvious after the next friendly on Thursday, and the qualifiers at the end of the month.

One other thing was I didn't see much of Noe Baba in the first half, but he was caught badly out of position when he let the ball bounce right in front of him and let the left winger in. However, he caught up with the player, tackled him hard and won the ball back. He definitely has pace and power. I think his confidence took a knock after the first incident, but he was much better in the second half.

[Charlie Darwin]

Not a bad deal at all, how many do you reckon was there?

Running away from the ball is an unfortunate habit a lot of Irish midfielders have and I don't know whether it's instinct or training or both, but hopefully they can have a bit more personality coached into them in time. Where was Baba playing, centre half? He's been used in midfield for Fulham as far as I know and probably hasn't had as much competitive football as he'd like, so maybe it was just rustiness.

[tetsujin1979]

about 600 or so, 700 at a push
loads of mexicans, one guy was wearing a luchadore mask!

Baba was at right full, Long and Heaney were the centre halves

[Charlie Darwin]

Ah right, didn't realise Heaney was playing. How did he get on? He's been playing left full when he's featured for Rovers but plays centre half for the B/LSC team.

[gastric]

Report on the game.

http://www.fai.ie/international/under-19/103969-ireland-u19s-lose-to-mexico-u20s-in-tallaght.html

[Charlie Darwin]

Beaten 2-0 at Dalymount. We're improving!

[Stuttgart88]

Scotland's u17s just won a semifinal place against Holland by following up a 1 nil win over Germany by beating Switzerland 3-1. England are to play Portugal in the second semi, despite losing 2 nil to the Dutch.

Impressive stuff from the Scots. I long for some similar success for our lads again.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Scotland's u17s just won a semifinal place against Holland by following up a 1 nil win over Germany by beating Switzerland 3-1. England are to play Portugal in the second semi, despite losing 2 nil to the Dutch.

Impressive stuff from the Scots. I long for some similar success for our lads again.

The Scottish senior team is well accustomed to getting similar results against teams of that stature. Meanwhile we have become conditioned to accept draws against teams the stature of Slovakia and Sweden as huge successes.

This isn't an insurmountable problem in a group where Italy are the only strong team (that Bulgaria team is in a huge decline) or where Russia and Slovakia are the only traditionally strong teams, but we are now in a group where Germany - as evidenced - are a step above Italy and Russia in terms of an obstacle for us and Poland and Scotland are two teams with strong performance records in qualification campaigns.

Thank God for the two automatic qualification places and the possibility of a third.

There is a chance that Scotland could do us a favour and drop points against a smaller team/s and replicate their past performances against Spain, Italy and France and we could get perhaps benefit from that.

I've kind of progressed past the point where I expect us to take the initiative and grasp the nettle.

[Charlie Darwin]

The Scottish senior team is well accustomed to getting similar results against teams of that stature. Meanwhile we have become conditioned to accept draws against teams the stature of Slovakia and Sweden as huge successes.
Since when?

[CraftyToePoke]

The Scottish senior team is well accustomed to getting similar results against teams of that stature

This the same Scotland who have never come out of their group at a major finals ?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

This the same Scotland who have never come out of their group at a major finals ?

This isn't debating the merits of the two teams records in major tournaments, not that Ireland have anything to brag about.

I'm merely saying that Scotland have had over half-a-dozen galvanising performances against teams the caliber of Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Czech Republic and several wins to reflect that. You can count the number of good Ireland performances - against any team - in the same period of time in a thimble. Surely, I must not be the only person demoralised by how we utterly failed to match our performance in Paris in the subsequent competitive games?

[Yard of Pace]

This isn't debating the merits of the two teams records in major tournaments, not that Ireland have anything to brag about.

I'm merely saying that Scotland have had over half-a-dozen galvanising performances against teams the caliber of Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Czech Republic and several wins to reflect that. You can count the number of good Ireland performances - against any team - in the same period of time in a thimble. Surely, I must not be the only person demoralised by how we utterly failed to match our performance in Paris in the subsequent competitive games?

We have plenty to brag about if we're comparing our record at finals to Scotland.....

And if those performances by Scotland were, indeed, "galvanising", why did they never follow them up by qualifying for anything since 1998 or even getting their act together to beat the weaker teams in their group?

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

We have plenty to brag about if we're comparing our record at finals to Scotland.....

And if those performances by Scotland were, indeed, "galvanising", why did they never follow them up by qualifying for anything since 1998 or even getting their act together to beat the weaker teams in their group?

Yes. Ireland perform better against smaller nations than Scotland. Scotland perform better against bigger nations than Ireland. I didn't say anything to dispute this. I suggested that this could work out in our favour, if as expected, we lose twice to Germany; as Scotland on past performances and results are more likely to take something from them - Poland too.

We're all guilty of licking our wounds -myself included - over Paris but Scotland have had their misfortune in not qualifying for a major tournament when they had decisions go against them when they played Italy in 2007.

There's no need to be so defensive when I bring up the fact that Scotland and Northern Ireland play better against big teams than we do. I don't like it any more than anyone else but it's indisputable fact backed up by over a dozen matches and results between them. Underperforming against the smaller nations doesn't make those accomplishments any less impressive.

Not being able to beat teams the calibre of Israel, Bulgaria and Slovakia has been a hindrance for us and the length of time it's been a problem is remarkable.

[Stuttgart88]

I agree and can't help feel that opposition to your view is framed by some previous strong positions you have taken. But if we had the same run of form that Scotland have in the last 12 months we would already have mentally taken qualification for granted. I'd much rather their form than ours and I think there is huge pressure on the new management to kick our asses into gear and quick.

It is 12 years since we put in a credible performance at a finals. Both Scotland and ourselves have wiped the slate clean since then.

And, btw, I'm not ridiculing our 2012 performance. We were up against 3 top ten teams. The Dutch did just as bad. Scotland would have done too, if not worse.

[Yard of Pace]

I'm merely saying that Scotland have had over half-a-dozen galvanising performances against teams the caliber of Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Czech Republic and several wins to reflect that. ?

Are you pair on drugs, because, sorry, I'm confused.

In WC2014 qualifying they were beaten twice by Belgium and Wales, with a loss and a draw against Serbia.
In Euro 2012 qualifying Spain beat them twice and they lost one and drew one with Czech Republic.
In WC2010 qualifying they lost to Holland twice, lost and drew with Norway and lost one to Macedonia
In Euro 2008 qualifying they did beat France twice but lost twice to Italy, once to Ukraine and once to Georgia........so.....is that it? We're supposed to be envious of Scotland beating France 7 and 8 years ago????

[Charlie Darwin]

Are you pair on drugs, because, sorry, I'm confused.

In WC2014 qualifying they were beaten twice by Belgium and Wales, with a loss and a draw against Serbia.
In Euro 2012 qualifying Spain beat them twice and they lost one and drew one with Czech Republic.
In WC2010 qualifying they lost to Holland twice, lost and drew with Norway and lost one to Macedonia
In Euro 2008 qualifying they did beat France twice but lost twice to Italy, once to Ukraine and once to Georgia........so.....is that it? We're supposed to be envious of Scotland beating France 7 and 8 years ago????
They beat Croatia twice a year after they soundly beat us. But overall, I don't see where they've become accustomed to big results against better teams. If anything, our solid record of draws up until recently is far more consistent.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

They beat Croatia twice a year after they soundly beat us. But overall, I don't see where they've become accustomed to big results against better teams. If anything, our solid record of draws up until recently is far more consistent.

They have also beaten Ukraine, Norway and Slovenia in the years since we have achieved any kind of credible competitive result.

Any way you want to put it, that is 7 more wins against decent teams than we have achieved since 2001. They have also beaten Iceland 4 times and Iceland are probably stronger than any team we have beaten in qualifying since 2001. Their performances against teams the caliber of Spain and Croatia are arguably more impressive than ours too. Contrast our performances in the "Group of Death" with Scotland's Euro 2012 Qualifying performances against Spain and WC 2014 Qualifying performances against Croatia.

[Charlie Darwin]

They have also beaten Ukraine, Norway and Slovenia in the years since we have achieved any kind of credible competitive result.
We've achieved results equally as credible as those. Unless I've fallen into some parallel universe where Ukraine, Norway and Slovenia are European powerhouses. The Scots had one very good campaign and outside of that they've been rank. We've been fairly awful too but we've been a level above them.

[CraftyToePoke]

They have also beaten Ukraine, Norway and Slovenia in the years since we have achieved any kind of credible competitive result.

I see you are at the bottom of the barrel already on this one.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

I see you are at the bottom of the barrel already on this one.

We can't even beat "the bottom of the barrel". What does that say?

Apart from Slovakia in the 2008 campaign, we haven't beaten a team on a par with any of those sides.

[CraftyToePoke]

We can't even beat "the bottom of the barrel". What does that say?

Apart from Slovakia in the 2008 campaign, we haven't beaten a team on a par with any of those sides.

So you agree your creme de la creme powerhouses used to parade the Scottish revival are now in fact a bit *hit ? Within about three posts. Is that where we are ?

[Charlie Darwin]

We can't even beat "the bottom of the barrel". What does that say?

Apart from Slovakia in the 2008 campaign, we haven't beaten a team on a par with any of those sides.
What's your baseline here? Armenia were better in 2011 than Slovakia were. We drew twice with Slovakia and beat Armenia twice. Yet you seem to have decided that only the Slovakia results are worthy of being counted.

[CraftyToePoke]

Look CD, his base line should be, if Robbie Keane, did, could have, or indeed might have scored against them, they aren't worth counting, surely ?
Hasn't that got to be the way ?