Under-15 Squad

[Rayzor]

For the 2nd yr in a row these under 15 squad announcements have been depressing. Either there is absolutely no talent in muster, despite cork having arguably the most successful academy in the country or Roy Keane was right about inferior players from Dublin been picked at the expense of players outside Dublin.

[elatedscum]

i do think it's a bit cyclical. There were a good group of cork lads recently around 2004, 2005, 2006. I remember seeing an u16 or u17 side for the 2005 group with Mark O'Mahony, Franco Umeh, Joe O'Brien Whitmarsh and Cathal Heffernan, all from Cork. More recently Cathal O'Sullivan and Jayden Umeh are other names that come to mind. I have heard there are issues in Cork County with kids only playing one game every two weeks at younger age groups, which i could totally imagine would stunt or delay footballing growth by say u15.

There was a trend of players from all across the island playing for Dublin teams. Someone like Oisin McEntee living in Monaghan and playing for Belvo and I remember Rovers having quite a lot of lads like that about 5 years ago. However this team seems mostly Dublin based. You do have about 41% of the country living in what's described as the greater dublin area, but the fact that basically 18 of 20 (Ayden was at Joey's before moving to Germany) came from Dublin clubs is I would think expressive of Dublin sides having better youth facilities, coaching, infrastructure etc. I honestly think they're looking throughout the country. 20 years ago that was a different story, maybe.

Honestly thinking about it - i'd worry the emerging talent program (designed for 12-15 year olds) being underfunded and eventually scrapped has meant that players outside dublin are now not at the same level as players inside Dublin. and this is the fruit of that decision...

[Rayzor]

i do think it's a bit cyclical. There were a good group of cork lads recently around 2004, 2005, 2006. I remember seeing an u16 or u17 side for the 2005 group with Mark O'Mahony, Franco Umeh, Joe O'Brien Whitmarsh and Cathal Heffernan, all from Cork. More recently Cathal O'Sullivan and Jayden Umeh are other names that come to mind. I have heard there are issues in Cork County with kids only playing one game every two weeks at younger age groups, which i could totally imagine would stunt or delay footballing growth by say u15.

There was a trend of players from all across the island playing for Dublin teams. Someone like Oisin McEntee living in Monaghan and playing for Belvo and I remember Rovers having quite a lot of lads like that about 5 years ago. However this team seems mostly Dublin based. You do have about 41% of the country living in what's described as the greater dublin area, but the fact that basically 18 of 20 (Ayden was at Joey's before moving to Germany) came from Dublin clubs is I would think expressive of Dublin sides having better youth facilities, coaching, infrastructure etc. I honestly think they're looking throughout the country. 20 years ago that was a different story, maybe.

Honestly thinking about it - i'd worry the emerging talent program (designed for 12-15 year olds) being underfunded and eventually scrapped has meant that players outside dublin are now not at the same level as players inside Dublin. and this is the fruit of that decision...

Not sure about cyclical thing to be honest. The national league at that age, is divided into 4 regional groups. While you could argue that group B is weaker than the others, Cork City are top and have a similar record than Rovers do in group A. Rovers have 11 players in the squad, basically their entire first team, City have 0.

[tetsujin1979]

Drew the first game against Czechia 1-1: https://www.fai.ie/latest/report-bu15-late-goal-earns-1-1-draw-czechia/
Lost the second game 2-0 against Austria: https://www.fai.ie/latest/report-bu15-austria-2-0-ireland/
Beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the third game: https://www.fai.ie/latest/report-bu15-ireland-cruise-3-0-win-over-saudi-arabia/
Facing the United Arab Emirates later today

[tetsujin1979]

Final game finished 2-0 to Ireland
https://www.fai.ie/latest/report-bu15-ireland-2-0-uae/

The FAI has reported racist abuse of their players during the game
https://www.fai.ie/latest/fai-statement-ireland-boys-under-15s/

[elatedscum]

Final game finished 2-0 to Ireland
https://www.fai.ie/latest/report-bu15-ireland-2-0-uae/

The FAI has reported racist abuse of their players during the game
https://www.fai.ie/latest/fai-statement-ireland-boys-under-15s/

reminds me of Sinclair Armstrong being racially abused against Kuwait

[Buckett]

The FAI are correct to make a complaint of course but did the team take any action on the pitch? There's only one answer for that kind behaviour imo, and that's to target the offending player

[CraftyToePoke]

Long read RTÉ article today on that 15s squad imbalance, which does concede scouting gaps & a general disconnect between the Dublin power centre and the regions but also deals with the rising standards within the greater Dublin area & the need to bridge that countrywide.

Is there no player in Derry, Sligo, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Waterford etc better than any one of eleven SR players ? You'd have to think there is. Roy Keane never selected as a youngster also mentioned naturally. Worth a read.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/0501/1510535-ireland-squad-highlights-imbalance-at-academy-level/

[Rayzor]

Long read RTÉ article today on that 15s squad imbalance, which does concede scouting gaps & a general disconnect between the Dublin power centre and the regions but also deals with the rising standards within the greater Dublin area & the need to bridge that countrywide.

Is there no player in Derry, Sligo, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Waterford etc better than any one of eleven SR players ? You'd have to think there is. Roy Keane never selected as a youngster also mentioned naturally. Worth a read.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/0501/1510535-ireland-squad-highlights-imbalance-at-academy-level/

At u15 level the league is divided up regionally into 4 leagues. Group b has the munster teams, as well as Kilkenny, that's about 25% of our population and not one player from the division has been called up the squad, while rovers have 11, very bizarre.

[elatedscum]

At u15 level the league is divided up regionally into 4 leagues. Group b has the munster teams, as well as Kilkenny, that's about 25% of our population and not one player from the division has been called up the squad, while rovers have 11, very bizarre.

in fairness, it's not like players aren't being seen at all. Just take Waterford as an example, they had 5 lads called up last June in trials for this side. Cormac Lowry, Temmy Gazal, Caydn Morgan, Zak Fenton and Joel Obesie. Temmy Gazal was selected in January for the squad against Australia - the other 4 lads never got a call-up. It would be similar with each club. If I were guessing, I'd say it's more about development over identification...

[nigel-harps1954]

in fairness, it's not like players aren't being seen at all. Just take Waterford as an example, they had 5 lads called up last June in trials for this side. Cormac Lowry, Temmy Gazal, Caydn Morgan, Zak Fenton and Joel Obesie. Temmy Gazal was selected in January for the squad against Australia - the other 4 lads never got a call-up. It would be similar with each club. If I were guessing, I'd say it's more about development over identification...

Finn Harps had a couple of lads in at assessments but chose to go with Northern Ireland instead. There's definitely a feeling that players outside Dublin aren't being given a fair chance.

[tetsujin1979]

Game against Poland was streamed on YouTube earlier
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[tetsujin1979]

Game against Poland was streamed in YouTube. Playing again on Thursday
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[tetsujin1979]

Squad announced for mini rouenament last week: https://www.fai.ie/latest/bu15-squad-confirmed-uefa-development-tournament/

Ireland Boys' Under-15 Squad
Goalkeepers: Adam Madejek (Galway United), Jakub Kowalewski (St Patrick's Athletic)

Defenders: Ben Elijah Senga (Cork City), Jaidee Foley (Cork City), Patrick Toth (Shamrock Rovers), Robert Morgan (Shamrock Rovers), Tom Casey (Shamrock Rovers), Gearoid Moran (Shelbourne)

Midfielders: Harry Rehill (Shamrock Rovers), Jorunas Jakas (Shamrock Rovers), Mate Isakadze (Shamrock Rovers), Joe Manicle (Shamrock Rovers), William Carney (Waterford)

Forwards: Fionn McCormack Crowe (Athlone Town), Jack Magill (Bohemians), Charlie Bonner (Finn Harps), Ronan Keating (Galway United), Ryan Savage (Linfield), Conor Hudson (St Patrick's Athletic), Nathan Power (Waterford)

UEFA DEVELOPMENT TOURNAMENT
Wednesday December 17th | Portugal BU15 v Ireland BU15, Cidade do Futebol, Lisbon, KO 15:00
Friday, December 19th | Ukraine BU15 v Ireland BU15, Cidade do Futebol, Lisbon, KO 11:00
Monday, December 22nd | Greece BU15 v Ireland BU15, Cidade do Futebol, Lisbon, KO 10:30

Stream for the first game V Portugal here, kick off in an hour
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[Eirambler]

I can't imagine we've called up many players from Linfield to squads in the past. I wonder if this is the first player to have been called in from the club?

[tetsujin1979]

I can't imagine we've called up many players from Linfield to squads in the past. I wonder if this is the first player to have been called in from the club?
A quick search of the fai's website for Linfield only returns the squad announcement, so it's quite possible that he is. Tommy Breen is mentioned on the soccerscene.ie site, but I'm not sure if he was ever called up while he was at Linfield - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Breen
I message NIStats on twitter, if he doesn't know then nobody does

[elatedscum]

I can't imagine we've called up many players from Linfield to squads in the past. I wonder if this is the first player to have been called in from the club?

he was at cliftonville last i heard (last season) and his older brother, Shea (i think just a year older) is at Dundalk on the same team as TJ Molloy.

looking at the rest of the squad, i wonder is Ronan Keating is a relative of Ruairi considering the name Ronan runs in the family. Jorunas Jakas is a younger brother of Orlandas Jakas of St Pat's (most recently Lithuania u19 and former Ireland u16) and I think cousin of Edvinas Jakas, keeper at Bray Wanderers

[Eirambler]

He could be the first Jakas to play for us since Stephen Ireland.

[tetsujin1979]

Michael O'Connor was included in Stephen Kenny's first U21 squad, and had worked with Kenny at Dundalk
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46995417