Georgia V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 2 September 2017 - World Cup 2018 Qualifier

[DannyInvincible]

John Giles spoke a lot of sense on 'Off the Ball' earlier today: http://www.newstalk.com/podcasts/Off_The_Ball/Football_with_John_Giles/202908/John_Giles_reviews_Irelands_draw_with_Georgia

[bennocelt]

Read the 42 article which also refers to Sadlier's piece in the Times.
One thing stood out like a bright light in the darkness, only, unfortunately it was a negative.
It said that many Irish kids under the age of 12 are still playing eleven-a-side games on full size pitches. That says it all - no more needs to be said.
I have had my experience of this in recent years. There is no way on God's green earth that kids so young should be playing in eleven a side teams on full size pitches.
You need 5 a side games on much smaller pitches - that way they get a million more touches on the ball and learn at an infinitely faster rate.
Those folks who remain intransigent and don't want our kids to do it the right way, and it's coaches and parents alike, are killing any potential their kids might have.
WAKE UP!

.

Same for me, that was a shocker, see kids playing all the time here as live near a good few football teams, and they all play small pitches, 5 a side games. Also i might add the coaching seems on a different planet to what i have seen in ireland...........

Love the comments on how Georgia are decent. Are they really? I haven't noticed it.

[Bungle]

Fair point.

For mccauley read o'hanlon. Plenty of examples of very talented lads that haven't made it. As i said,many of the talents i mentioned will end up playing with solihull or drogheda rather than Liverpool or Chelsea.

However,against all odds we are still producing very talented youngsters. That cannot be denied. If we had a proper outlet for them here to develop,then we would have a higher success rate because it's becoming next to impossible to get game time in the Premiership. Maybe Shamrock Rovers will lead the way,though a lot of the very best youngsters (parents too) will see the bright lights of Anfield or Old Trafford.

The fact is though that will take years to implement.

Arter,Brady and Hoolahan are all good ball players. We can play good football so it's not something that we are incapable of. The tactics of MON are dinosaur like and do serious damage to football in the country,though if we make a world cup, that will be offset a little. Far inferior teams to us play it on the deck. No excuse for us.

[pineapple stu]

However,against all odds we are still producing very talented youngsters. That cannot be denied.
I think it can. Where are they?

Even the 21s squad is mostly English players - who by definition we're not producing. They're products of the English system.

The Irish system is hugely defective. And it's one of the biggest issue facing the game today.

[Fixer82]

Were there questions of a foul? I thought the goal was fine. Their keeper was flapping all over the place, but I don't think he was fouled. Bodies came together as three players challenged for the ball, but neither Clark nor Duffy had hands on him.



The goal was fine. Keeper was poor for it. Duffy and Clark had eyes on the ball

[Bungle]

The u21s are a shambles. I watch a bit of LOI but I'm sure people on here who know a lot more than I do about it, would have more Irish in it.

I have been a massive critic of the FAI. I don't see a lot of the structural stuff changing for years. We have punched above our weight historically for producing great players (not the last 15 years) because of the culture of street football which is now pretty much non-existent, and not good quality coaching. Dokter seems to want to implement things but it will take time to change old habits.

My point was simply that despite all the things we do wrong, we still produce some of the best underage talents in the English game. That does not mean that McCauley and O'Connor etc will make it, or reach the level we hope, it just means that they are very good talents. For all we do wrong, there are things being done right. St Kevin's beating Barca last year being a case in point.

My opinion is that we need to replicate what works in countries like Denmark, where they may lose their best talent to an Ajax, but they keep the bulk of their underage team in Denmark. That means that talented lads have a more realistic chance of breaking through in to first team football, rather than having their hopes of being the next "big thing" ruined after Jose or Pep spunks 150 million on a ready made world class player.

Brexit could initially make things difficult for our football team, as nobody knows how it might impact on EU players, which will affect us most of all. However, long-term it could be a blessing for us, as if it is done right by LOI clubs, it might mean that the talent coming through is far superior, as it stays in the Irish game.

[DannyInvincible]

Brexit could initially make things difficult for our football team, as nobody knows how it might impact on EU players, which will affect us most of all. However, long-term it could be a blessing for us, as if it is done right by LOI clubs, it might mean that the talent coming through is far superior, as it stays in the Irish game.

I think Irish citizens will remain legally distinguished from other EU citizens in the UK post-Brexit as the purported aim of the British government is to protect the current Common Travel Area arrangements. A recent policy paper (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/621848/60093_Cm9464_NSS_SDR_Web.pdf) published by the British government stated that "Irish citizens residing in the UK will not need to apply for 'settled status' to protect their entitlements".

Not that I can see how this might directly benefit Irish youngsters playing football, but just something (possibly fanciful) that popped into my head; in theory, if British clubs were having difficulty importing EU citizen players into, say, the EPL or SPFL after Brexit due to expected changes in British immigration law that will likely deny EU citizens automatic travel rights and require them to apply for a permit or visa of some sort, British clubs could potentially set up arrangements with clubs in Ireland, bring EU citizen players to those clubs and then formally transfer them across the Irish Sea once they became entitled to and acquired Irish citizenship after a couple of years (as Irish citizens will still have automatic travel rights and "settled status" rights if living in the UK).

Not sure how practical it would be and it's an apparent "loophole" that anti-immigration Brexiteers seemingly don't wish to discuss (the fact that EU citizens who won't ordinarily have access to Britain post-Brexit will still potentially be able to acquire Irish citizenship through naturalisation by moving to Ireland for a couple of years, which will then effectively grant them free access to the UK), but, in theory, if the "loophole" was to remain, it could help raise the standard of the league, thus attracting a greater level of public interest and investment, which arguably could have a knock-on effect of enhancing training facilities and long-term youth player development. Of course, you could also argue that filling the league with non-Irish EU citizens might deprive Irish youngsters of first-team opportunities, so perhaps it could actually prove counter-productive rather than beneficial on that front... Hard to know, but it's just a fairly raw thought that came into my head.

Edit: Just looking into the criteria for Irish citizenship by naturalisation again here (http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/WP16000022) and I see that applicants must "intend to continue living in the State". If it was evident to the Irish government that the EU citizen players intended to transfer to Britain straight after becoming naturalised Irish citizens, perhaps what I've theorised wouldn't be viable after all.

[KrisLetang]

All due respect Danny, I think Yann Hafner would disagree with most of that. If I know Yann as well as I think I do.

[DeLorean]

Were there questions of a foul? I thought the goal was fine. Their keeper was flapping all over the place, but I don't think he was fouled. Bodies came together as three players challenged for the ball, but neither Clark nor Duffy had hands on him.

Definitely mentioned a few times on RTÉ and the highlights show, a few of the pundits definitely said we got away with it. Clark put his arm/elbow across the keepers face I thought. I think the fact that the keeper got himself into such a poor position worked against him (in more ways than one). The picture above is after the contact.

[OwlsFan]

Brexit could initially make things difficult for our football team, as nobody knows how it might impact on EU players, which will affect us most of all. However, long-term it could be a blessing for us, as if it is done right by LOI clubs, it might mean that the talent coming through is far superior, as it stays in the Irish game.

Brexit will make no difference to us as regards players playing in the UK any more than not being members of the EU affects Africans, South Americans etc playing the the EPL.

[samhaydenjr]

Brexit will make no difference to us as regards players playing in the UK any more than not being members of the EU affects Africans, South Americans etc playing the the EPL.

Actually that could potentially have a huge impact on us - Home Office visa rules for non-EU players from a country ranked 31-50 (where we are) states that they must have played in 75% of their country's international games in the previous two years (http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35919247). So we've played 20 games in 2016 and 2017 - of the 39 players called up to the provisional squad for the Georgia and Serbia games, the following players would not have been granted visas: Colin Doyle, John O'Shea, Paul McShane, Stephen Ward (1 cap short), Greg Cunningham, John Egan, Matt Doherty, Kevin Long, Glenn Whelan (2 caps short), Jeff Hendrick (1 short), David Meyler, Stephen Quinn, Jonny Hayes, Daryl Horgan, Conor Hourihane, Alan Browne. So that's 17 who would be affected (assuming Sean Maguire got a UK passport based on being born in Luton) - plus EVERY OTHER PLAYER BORN IN THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND WHO PLAYS OR ASPIRES TO PLAY IN THE UK

[TonyD]

If you go back a couple of years, Dan Cleary and Alex O'Hanlon both scored for Liverpool in the UEFA Youth League; Cleary went on to make the bench in a Europa League tie. Now they're at Solihull Moors and St Pat's. Fiacre Kelleher (5 years at Celtic) is at Solihull too.
.

Just on Alex O'Hanlon. I've seen him quite a bit for Pats, and he isn't nearly good enough for our first team (a first team having an awful season.)It astounds me that he was ever at Liverpool. Maybe he's regressed big time since he was a youngster.

[Bungle]

Nobody knows what will happen with brexit. I would personally expect it to increase the number of British players in many teams. This will have an impact on us.

I did hear the end of a 5 live conversation last year after the brexit vote which noted that it is likely to result in a tightening of restrictions on younger foreign players in the academys of British clubs. A Naby Keita or proven top international talent like a Morata isn't going to stop coming to the premiership under their current visa requirements,but i do think it will result in less of our players at the academys of the Liverpools or Uniteds of this world. The "premier league product" won't be allowed be run in to the ground by Sky and the powers that be,but i do see us being impacted on more than other countries as england is currently a finishing school for nearly all our players.

In the long term,it may be a blessing as some seriously talented lads may delay leaving Ireland and it means we have to get our act together by building our own academies.

[liamoo11]

Just on Alex O'Hanlon. I've seen him quite a bit for Pats, and he isn't nearly good enough for our first team (a first team having an awful season.)It astounds me that he was ever at Liverpool. Maybe he's regressed big time since he was a youngster.

He went to Liverpool as a left full back but by the time he made their 18s that seemed to be shelved and he was left wing or centre mid . Where does he play for ye? Any idea where his best position might be?Thanks

[DannyInvincible]

Nobody knows what will happen with brexit. I would personally expect it to increase the number of British players in many teams. This will have an impact on us.

I did hear the end of a 5 live conversation last year after the brexit vote which noted that it is likely to result in a tightening of restrictions on younger foreign players in the academys of British clubs. A Naby Keita or proven top international talent like a Morata isn't going to stop coming to the premiership under their current visa requirements,but i do think it will result in less of our players at the academys of the Liverpools or Uniteds of this world. The "premier league product" won't be allowed be run in to the ground by Sky and the powers that be,but i do see us being impacted on more than other countries as england is currently a finishing school for nearly all our players.

In the long term,it may be a blessing as some seriously talented lads may delay leaving Ireland and it means we have to get our act together by building our own academies.

If Brexit leads to a reduction in the number of foreign players being imported by English clubs due to difficulties for them in acquiring a visa, but the Common Travel Area between Ireland and Britain remains in place (as is the purported ambition of the UK government and the declared hope of the Irish government), that might well benefit young Irish players in that it would potentially free up space for them in English academies. Irish citizens would still have the same residency rights as UK citizens and wouldn't require a visa to move to the UK if the CTA is maintained.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Ken Early was watching the game with a family member and when one of our players took a throw she remarked "he looks out of shape".

I wonder who she was referring to.

[Charlie Darwin]

Just on Alex O'Hanlon. I've seen him quite a bit for Pats, and he isn't nearly good enough for our first team (a first team having an awful season.)It astounds me that he was ever at Liverpool. Maybe he's regressed big time since he was a youngster.
I've seen him a few times as I usually got to Pats when I can't get to Rovers away games. He's clearly talented but very lightweight. Compare him to Forrester, who didn't get over to England but got loads of senior football instead, he just looks underdeveloped.

[Charlie Darwin]

Ken Early was watching the game with a family member and when one of our players took a throw she remarked "he looks out of shape".

I wonder who she was referring to.
Well Christie and Ward take 95% of our throw-ins so probably one of them.

[tetsujin1979]

Highlights
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