Victory Shield 2017

[Olé Olé]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/osam-names-ireland-under-16-squad-for-victory-shield

Okoflex in there. Is Parrott not with Spurs and is he not a striker?

[liamoo11]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/osam-names-ireland-under-16-squad-for-victory-shield

Okoflex in there. Is Parrott not with Spurs and is he not a striker?

That's fantastic news about okoflex. The other lad from Arsenal is a new addition I think. Hodge the city lad not in this time may have chosen England. It's a squad that seems to have slot of attacking ability even without sotona from man Utd. Hope they do well and hopefully there is a stream like last season

[gastric]

What a multicultural squad! So much to be excited about with the underage squads. And wins over the lego lovers, would certainly add to the optimism I presently feel about Irish football!:o

[BonnieShels]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/osam-names-ireland-under-16-squad-for-victory-shield

Okoflex in there. Is Parrott not with Spurs and is he not a striker?

So weird that they just refer to Osam throughout.

[Olé Olé]

That's fantastic news about okoflex. The other lad from Arsenal is a new addition I think. Hodge the city lad not in this time may have chosen England. It's a squad that seems to have slot of attacking ability even without sotona from man Utd. Hope they do well and hopefully there is a stream like last season

The boys in Nigeria aren't impressed: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=25089

[Olé Olé]

Don't think I've seen this before from Okoflex: "Ireland is where I’m from but England is financially better and the grounds are amazing. I enjoy playing with both but obviously I’m Irish so I feel the connection with them."

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/new-irish-busy-making-their-sporting-mark-1.3178485

[Diggs246]

The boys in Nigeria aren't impressed: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=25089

He seems to have no problem playing for two countries at the same time!

"Oko-Flex is on the England youth squad, where he participated in their August 2016 training camp at Loughborough Camp (Warwick University) and further training in October 2016 at St George's Park, and played his first game against Belgium in February. Armstrong Oko-Flex continued to represent England U16 as they took on Turkey and Romania U16’s winning both games 2-1 on August 22, 2017 at St George’s Park, where he scored his goal. Armstrong is eligible to represent the Republic of Ireland England or Nigeria internationally. Oko-Flex was called up to the Republic of Ireland national under-15 team, playing his first game against the [Netherlands]]. His other Irish side international engagement include against Norway U15 and Czech Republic U15 in March 2017. Oko-Flex made his first start against the Netherlands on 31 January 2017 for the Republic of Ireland [ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Echezolachukwu_Inya_Oko-Flex#cite_note-12) And returning from this game against the Netherlands, on 16 February 2017 Oko-Flex also made his first start for England U15 in a match against Belgium at St Georges' Park Football centre, Burton-on-Trent"

[samhaydenjr]

The boys in Nigeria aren't impressed: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=25089

Understandably so - I guess we're lucky that so far the Nigerian FA doesn't seem to be following young lads of Nigerian descent in Ireland as closely as the FAI watches for young footballers of Irish descent in Britain, which gives the FAI the chance to get them into our underage teams.

[liamoo11]

Understandably so - I guess we're lucky that so far the Nigerian FA doesn't seem to be following young lads of Nigerian descent in Ireland as closely as the FAI watches for young footballers of Irish descent in Britain, which gives the FAI the chance to get them into our underage teams.
They have serious knowledge of youth football in fairness cause they do this for all footballers in Europe underage of Nigerian decent which is a serious effort

[liamoo11]

He seems to have no problem playing for two countries at the same time!

"Oko-Flex is on the England youth squad, where he participated in their August 2016 training camp at Loughborough Camp (Warwick University) and further training in October 2016 at St George's Park, and played his first game against Belgium in February. Armstrong Oko-Flex continued to represent England U16 as they took on Turkey and Romania U16’s winning both games 2-1 on August 22, 2017 at St George’s Park, where he scored his goal. Armstrong is eligible to represent the Republic of Ireland England or Nigeria internationally. Oko-Flex was called up to the Republic of Ireland national under-15 team, playing his first game against the [Netherlands]]. His other Irish side international engagement include against Norway U15 and Czech Republic U15 in March 2017. Oko-Flex made his first start against the Netherlands on 31 January 2017 for the Republic of Ireland [ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Echezolachukwu_Inya_Oko-Flex#cite_note-12) And returning from this game against the Netherlands, on 16 February 2017 Oko-Flex also made his first start for England U15 in a match against Belgium at St Georges' Park Football centre, Burton-on-Trent"

Interestingly England are in a tournament Next Week so he has obviously chosen us over them on this occasion which is promising . Getting game time for Arsenal 18 s at his age is a fine achievement no one else in our squad has played at that level in uk

[tetsujin1979]

Won their opening game 1-0 today against Northern Ireland: https://twitter.com/FAIreland/statuses/922489598407856128

Victory for #IRLU16 (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IRLU16?src=hash) in their first game of the Victory Shield. They beat @NorthernIreland (https://twitter.com/NorthernIreland) 1-0 thanks to a second-half goal from Troy Parrott

[liamoo11]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A2-8PwxG848 . Highlights of a sort from today

[Olé Olé]

The FAI have highlights on their Facebook page. Okoflex and Parrott looked absolutely tantalizing up front from the 2 minutes.

[tetsujin1979]

it's on their youtube channel as well
hnEj-igd4_M

[liamoo11]

just watched the full first half there on the ifa YouTube channel. We were miles the best side must have had 70 percent Of The ball. Our keeper never once kicked long theirs kicked long every time. We played from the back constantly with a very rare long diagonal ball while they went long much more often. I was surprised this article which is based on the players who would make up this north age group https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/other-soccer/fai-bottom-of-the-class-for-player-development-34244549.html made be think that these northern lads were coming through a system that was creating magical technical players who wanted to play possession football and club ni was leaving our players totally behind as we huffed it and chased it. Me thinks Dan McDonnell guilded the lily.

[Olé Olé]

Seems so. He spews a lot of negative speculation and draws conclusions on fairly paltry evidence. "Ease of access to high-quality team-mates and expert coaching means they are further advanced than their southern counterparts": says who? Proof in the pudding pal. Pity I'm not on Twitter to let him know my thoughts. Liamo strikes me as someone who could do battle against McDonnell with his doomsday journalism.

[Olé Olé]

Can't edit the above as I'm on my phone but I generally quite like McDonnell. The tone of that article and using a half quote from Bradley to somehow enhance his point render his argument a little weak, even before this result.

[Bungle]

Whether it's potentially a few very good age groups akin to a bit of a golden generation of lads or a sign of good long term work beginning to come to fruition, we have some serious talents.

I'm really positive about the future. Haven't felt like this about our youth teams in more than 15 years.

[liamoo11]

watched second half there the north were brutal but just like us at senior level lashing the ball into the box does cause panic especially as our centre halfs were smaller than their front lads. Great philosophy of how we play underage everyone looked comfortable on the ball all played in tight areas. Not sure we will ever see anything like this at senior level! That oko flex looks a player . Parrot played in the attacking role in a midfield three but I'd say that was to get as many attacking talents into the side with the Utd lad who looked dangerous up top. The lad who played left full in first half for us really looked tidy. Obosele who came on second half looked proper pacy and a good footballer out on the right. Very enjoyable watch

[mark12345]

Whether it's potentially a few very good age groups akin to a bit of a golden generation of lads or a sign of good long term work beginning to come to fruition, we have some serious talents.

I'm really positive about the future. Haven't felt like this about our youth teams in more than 15 years.

Have to agree with this assessment. Seems every time I read about some team other than the senior team (who, mind you, have the small matter of a two-legged tie to make next year's World Cup Finals) there is good news these days.
Someone commented last week that our underage teams had scored 27 goals in 12 games, winning ten and drawing two of them. This could be a golden generation alright.

[BonnieShels]

Whether it's potentially a few very good age groups akin to a bit of a golden generation of lads or a sign of good long term work beginning to come to fruition, we have some serious talents.

I'm really positive about the future. Haven't felt like this about our youth teams in more than 15 years.

I felt like this recently when I saw the 3 threads near the top of the Ireland forum. It's absolutely brilliant. Here's hoping.

[samhaydenjr]

OK, just to temper expectations a little, our U17s and U19s have just got out of their qualifying round groups, which is something they do fairly regularly - getting through an elite round is another matter altogether. Our U21s have yet to face Germany in a group where there will be only one guaranteed qualifier and only the best four second-place teams will go into a play-off. Also successful underage teams haven't always led to a flood of new internationals - for example only two members of the 2011 U19 finals squad have played for the first team (Hendrick and Egan) and only three others (Doherty, Williams and Carruthers) could harbour any realistic hope of appearing in the National Senior Squad in the future.

That said, there is cause for optimism - the U21s have made their best start to a qualifying campaign EVER. Aaron Connolly was the top scorer overall in last year's u17 qualifying campaign with 7, while Adam Idah is top scorer this year so far, having matched Connolly's mark of seven in the qualifying round alone - if the U17s qualify for the second time in a row, that would be an indication of a systematic improvement, rather than just a good run for one group of players. We had a number of young players make first-team breakthroughs last season and it looks like a few more are on the verge this season.

And particularly up front we seem to have a lot of promising youngsters working their way through the English underage system - just for some perspective, IIRC a few years ago we were talking about 5 young strikers we were hoping would make their mark - Drennan, Burke, O'Brien, Maguire and Mason. And although it has taken a little while, it looks like two of those (Maguire and O'Brien) will be squad members when the next qualifying campaign starts. Right now there are about a dozen Irish striking prospects going through the English academy system who are worth keeping an eye on: Grego-Cox, McDonagh, Metz, Afolabi, Hale, McAuley, Obafemi, Parrott, Okoflex (if we keep him), Cassidy, Ayoola, Connolly, Roache, Idah. And while a few of them may not go on to play at senior international level, if even four or five do make it, that could leave us very strong up front in the coming years. Plus there are probably youngsters who have yet to emerge, maybe a couple of young LOI strikers will also make the grade.

So while it will take a few years before we can start talking realistically about a "golden generation", the future is starting to look bright

[Olé Olé]

Agree with Sam, probably important to temper expectations but what I'm liking about the recent results is that we are doing well and beating countries that would traditionally be recognised for having stronger underage systems and domestic leagues than ourselves. Aside from the ground-breaking set-up that Dan McDonnell has identified up North, we have beaten the likes of Ukraine, Belgium, Czech Republic, Serbia and the under 21 got results against Israel and Norway who would have stronger domestic leagues and players playing regularly there. And, not to cast aspersions on our 3G and 2G players, but the success at under 17 and 19 level has been done with very few players of that background which is a strong indication of what is coming through.

Now, it's important to say that a lot of these lads will taper off. I mean, (for varying reasons) Mikey Drennan and Kenny McEvoy aren't playing professional football anymore and a bit of hope would have been pinned on them.

Actually, would I be correct in saying that Molumby and Doyle-Hayes are two of the most technically proficient players we have had that have made their senior debuts at 18? They're emergence bodes well for us too and is tangible at this point as both are very highly-regarded at their clubs clearly.

[tetsujin1979]

Full match vs Northern Ireland here
0OBiTEEdQ10

Currently 1-1 vs Wales

[Stuttgart88]

2-2 finished Oko-Flex with late equaliser

[liamoo11]

beat Scotland to win this today. Full match video is on the ifa YouTube I'd say cause they streamed it. Fair play to the ifa for streaming 2 of our games this week hope fai do more of this for underage games.

[Stuttgart88]

extraordinary month for the FAI. Junior, senior, men and women.

[liamoo11]

okoflex played and scored for brits 16 s today

[liamoo11]

I see Matt Everett at Brighton made his 18s debut and scored under 16 for us this season

[liamoo11]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/ireland-u16-osam-names-squad-for-hungary-friendlies . 16s squad for friendlies. No okoflex this time. Shamrock rovers under 16s must have a savage back 4!

[nigel-harps1954]

http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/ireland-u16-osam-names-squad-for-hungary-friendlies . 16s squad for friendlies. No okoflex this time. Shamrock rovers under 16s must have a savage back 4!

Or Paul Osam isn't arsed going outside Dublin to look for players.

[tetsujin1979]

Thought Sobowale had signed for Spurs?