2019 Toulon Tournament

[Eirambler]

Fair enough to give the squad a run out in the 3rd/4th playoff I think. Still a few players of interest to me out there. Kelleher, Masterson and O'Connor starting again at the back. Interested to have another look at Scales as well and Tyreke Wilson is getting a run also. Jason Knight playing in midfield. Would have liked us to have gone with one of the more established forwards though, ideally Connolly. We look very limited up top on paper.

[tommy_c12000]

Ended up watching it in any case. The excitement was too much. Bright opening and trying to play football as always. Connolly needs to come on for Mallon

[tetsujin1979]

good game so far, Mexico starting to come in to it more. We're definitely missing something in the final third

[tommy_c12000]

Good half from Ireland. Jack Taylor flying it!

[elatedscum]

Missed the opening 20 but Taylor and Knight have been lively

[tetsujin1979]

Am I right in thinking that O'Connor is the only player to play 90 minutes in each game?

[tommy_c12000]

Am I right in thinking that O'Connor is the only player to play 90 minutes in each game?

From my memory, yes

[tetsujin1979]

According to the tournament website, yes he was

Brazil: https://festival-foot-espoirs.com/en/festival/detail_rencontre.php?id=835
Bahrain: https://festival-foot-espoirs.com/en/festival/detail_rencontre.php?id=830
Mexico: https://festival-foot-espoirs.com/en/festival/detail_rencontre.php?id=825
China: https://festival-foot-espoirs.com/en/festival/detail_rencontre.php?id=818

[liamoo11]

Good performance again with such a changed side. Faded in second half. Idah showed great hold up and link play in the bit he was on for. Masterson class again hopefully gets good move. Connolly had awful attitude when he came on nearly cost us game at the end and woeful peno. Thought Carroll done well in midfield for a lad who has been centre half alot for us

[Eirambler]

Disappointing ending with the penalties, Leahy got psyched out a bit by the keeper winding him up unfortunately.

In terms of the game itself, given that we had closer to a first choice defence and a reserve attack, it's probably not a massive shock that it finished 0-0.

Kelleher was solid in goal without having an awful lot to do. O'Connor was very good again as he has been all tournament.

Scales again looked very solid at centre back, has really impressed in both games he has played. Masterson was fine as well. Didn't feel Tyreke Wilson did a lot, it's unfortunate that he's a month overage for the under 19s.

Jack Taylor had a good game but overall the midfield was a step down on our first choice. Knight maybe not quite ready for the under 21s since he has only just turned 18. Carroll was a physical presence but it didn't amount to a whole lot. I haven't seen anything in Mallon to suggest we will ever see him at senior level. Set pieces were poor. Lennon wasn't particularly impressive either and Drinan didn't get many opportunities up front.

Definite improvement when Connolly and Idah came on, while Idah hasn't been brilliant in this tournament he is by far our best target man forward at this level even though he's only 18. I definitely want to see Connolly playing first team football this coming season, either at Brighton or on loan. Every team in the championship should be looking at him really.

A decent effort overall in the tournament, the only negative other than the penalties was that after a bright start against China we only scored one more goal in the rest of the competition. In particular we probably should have done more against Bahrain.

Having said that our team of mostly 19 and 20 year old went toe to toe with two of the best under 22 teams in the competition in Brazil and Mexico and they held their own. I wouldn't particularly want to sit through another 90 minutes of Ireland under 21 v Mexico under 22 any time soon though.

[tommy_c12000]

Good performance again with such a changed side. Faded in second half. Idah showed great hold up and link play in the bit he was on for. Masterson class again hopefully gets good move. Connolly had awful attitude when he came on nearly cost us game at the end and woeful peno. Thought Carroll done well in midfield for a lad who has been centre half alot for us
Agree, Idah looked a different player. Noticed Connolly to be very lippy to opposition, ref and his own players throughout the tournament, was bad when he came on. Masterson deserves a good club and a chance

[elatedscum]

Kearns also comes out of the game with credit. As mentioned, positive performances from Scales, Idah and Taylor and most of the first teamers. Wilson didn’t look particularly fit or sharp to me. Possibly the lack of games over the last 6 weeks wasn’t easy.

If I was Ruud Dokter or Stephen Kenny, or whoever would have the authority to make or influence these decisions at the FAI, I’d look at trying to get an U20 side going from September similar to the U18s.

If you look at the 21s squad, there’s probably a limited number of slots left up for grabs, then imagine you have Mandroiu, Ferrugia, Clarke, Travers, Obafemi and Parrott all to come in.

Meanwhile you’ve got the most talented group of 19s in a generation all graduating, all those 2000 kids have nowhere really to go until the next campaign u21 campaign in 2 years.

The likes of Bolger, Maher, Lyons, Afolabi, Reghba, Roache, O’Farrell, Doherty, Kavanagh, McAuley, James, Clarke, Kilkenny, Caffrey, Tee (etc etc etc - hard to come up with names off the top of my head)...

But I feel you want to keep these guys involved with the international setup to keep a continuity going for the 00/01 u21 campaign

[tetsujin1979]

Even with the much changed side, we stayed competitive with a far more experienced Mexican team, and could have won it with Taylor's late chance - although I think even if he had kept it down, the defender in front of him would have blocked it. Penalties are always a harsh way to decide anything, and I think the retake unnerved Leahy. His performance overall in the tournament was positive though.

Ronan, Connolly, Molumby, and O'Connor all come out of this looking extremely promising. You'd expect to see each of them in the Premier League next season, except maybe O'Connor.

I was disappointed with Kelleher. He made some good catches, without making any good saves, if that makes sense. Despite his reputation, I didn't see any good passes or control from him either.

If I'm being extremely critical, we still struggled to score goals, despite Connolly and Idah's performances. We only scored once after the first game.

[liamoo11]

Kearns also comes out of the game with credit. As mentioned, positive performances from Scales, Idah and Taylor and most of the first teamers. Wilson didn’t look particularly fit or sharp to me. Possibly the lack of games over the last 6 weeks wasn’t easy.

If I was Ruud Dokter or Stephen Kenny, or whoever would have the authority to make or influence these decisions at the FAI, I’d look at trying to get an U20 side going from September similar to the U18s.

If you look at the 21s squad, there’s probably a limited number of slots left up for grabs, then imagine you have Mandroiu, Ferrugia, Clarke, Travers, Obafemi and Parrott all to come in.

Meanwhile you’ve got the most talented group of 19s in a generation all graduating, all those 2000 kids have nowhere really to go until the next campaign u21 campaign in 2 years.

The likes of Bolger, Maher, Lyons, Afolabi, Reghba, Roache, O’Farrell, Doherty, Kavanagh, McAuley, James, Clarke, Kilkenny, Caffrey, Tee (etc etc etc - hard to come up with names off the top of my head)...

But I feel you want to keep these guys involved with the international setup to keep a continuity going for the 00/01 u21 campaign

Agree with this. We need to do everything we can to give players opportunities to help develop them a d put them in the shop window given how limited aour playing pool is. For instance I have loved that Kenny has given Masterson lots of game time to give him best chance of getting exposure especially given his severe lack of football this season given his injuries

[tetsujin1979]

Molumby named fourth best player at the tournament

[Olé Olé]

How does this work? Was he identified as the best player for the fourth team or have they identified 3 other lads?

[Diggs246]

Molumby named fourth best player at the tournament

How great is that? There was top guys who play week in week out across the elite European leagues and our acamedy lad from Waterford is there wirh them. Fair play

[tetsujin1979]

How does this work? Was he identified as the best player for the fourth team or have they identified 3 other lads?

Yeah, two Brazilian players and one of the Japanese team are the top three, so Molumby was determined to be better than any third-placed Mexican player!
Can't find it on the actual website, but it's on their facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/TournoiMauriceRevello/posts/1272694076229427
the winner, Douglas Luiz has played in the Primera Liga for the past two seasons
second place Lyanco is with Torino, but played on loan with Bologna last season
Ao Tanaka, who was third, is with Kawasaki Frontale, who've won the J-League for the last two seasons
Meanwhile Molumby has missed about 18 months of football, and hasn't made his league debut yet. It's some achievement

[Olé Olé]

Brilliant stuff. I'm sure Potter is taking note. He is also younger than the other 3.

[tetsujin1979]

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