U23 players 2019/20

[Olé Olé]

Straight red for Collins. Twitter consensus is that it was a tough but late tackle.

Hmmm. I would normally expect studs up for a red on a tackle like this, or else two feet. From what I can see, the studs were down and it was one leading foot. I Could be wrong: https://streamja.com/12K3

[tetsujin1979]

Coffey, Afolabi, and O'Connor all started for Celtic today against Morton in the SPL Reserve Cup, with Afolabi scoring the opener in a 4-2 win: http://www.celticfc.net/news/16853
Could be something, could be nothing, the Celtic Academy Twitter account described Afolabi's goal, with an assist from Okoflex as "the Irish connection"
1176487107478589440

[gastric]

Could be something, could be nothing, the Celtic Academy Twitter account described Afolabi's goal, with an assist from Okoflex as "the Irish connection"
1176487107478589440
Come on Duffer, get him back on board!

[SkStu]

Status officially changes back to “ours to lose”.

[tommy_c12000]

What is Okoflexs status? I thought he came up short for English residency requirements before moving to Scotland? Has he played a competitive game underage for us? If so, surely that places him in an even worse place than Johansson/Crowley as he wasn’t even eligible for English citizenship/passport at the time of Irish appearances

[Charlie Darwin]

Status officially changes back to “ours to lose”.
*Paul O'Shea crashes through the ceiling*

[elatedscum]

He never played a competitive game for us or anyone. U17s in Dublin back in May would have been the first opportunity.

He hasn’t lived in England for 5 years, so unless they are gonna get creative with the paperwork, he’s eligible for Ireland and Nigeria as of today.

I actually wonder if agents are telling certain young players like Okoflex or Mipo or the other lad at United who’s really fast not to play for Ireland at underage level because they would qualify to play for England via residency in a few years but if they play a competitive game for us (or Nigeria) before they have nationality there, then that door is closed...

[Olé Olé]

Brighton v Villa tonight- you would have to imagine Connolly is quite sure of a start.
Bournemouth away to Burton- hopefully Kilkenny gets a look-in and maybe a start. Is Travers fit?
MK Don's v Liverpool- a bit of talk that Kelleher will make his first start. It would be great if this came to fruition.

As an aside, Rochdale travel to Old Traffford. Brian Barry-Murphy is managing Rochdale. An inexperienced young manager like Solskjaer but his old lady Jimmy would have been more of a poacher in hurling and football akin to Ole than Brian.

[tommy_c12000]

Brighton v Villa tonight- you would have to imagine Connolly is quite sure of a start.
Bournemouth away to Burton- hopefully Kilkenny gets a look-in and maybe a start. Is Travers fit?
MK Don's v Liverpool- a bit of talk that Kelleher will make his first start. It would be great if this came to fruition.

As an aside, Rochdale travel to Old Traffford. Brian Barry-Murphy is managing Rochdale. An inexperienced young manager like Solskjaer but his old lady Jimmy would have been more of a poacher in hurling and football akin to Ole than Brian.

Connolly will start. Travers appears fit and all their forum posters have himself and Kilkenny to start, so imagine they will. The word from Anfield is Kelleher will start, tbh he has to start...he needs to get some game experience if they’re keeping him on the bench as backup in premier league

[DeLorean]

In general I feel kelleher hasn't been getting much love which I find hard to understand seems to be a sense that he is just lucky to be in this position at liverpool this season and last

Getting much love on here, is it? He was poor in the Toulon Tournament so that was a bit disappointing. It's obviously great that he's highly regarded at Liverpool but realistically there's probably a ceiling on what he can achieve there.

[nigel-harps1954]

Shane Blaney captained Doncaster 23s to a 1-0 win over Portsmouth last night in Premier League Cup. He's been featuring on the bench regularly for the first team this season without making any league appearance just yet.

Ian Lawlor was in goal too.

[CraftyToePoke]

Recovering from a shaky beginning there so Nigel.

[elatedscum]

As you’d expect:

Kelleher, Travers, Kilkenny, Barrett and Connolly all start. Conor Coventry is on the bench which is a little disappointing

[tommy_c12000]

Connolly will start. Travers appears fit and all their forum posters have himself and Kilkenny to start, so imagine they will. The word from Anfield is Kelleher will start, tbh he has to start...he needs to get some game experience if they’re keeping him on the bench as backup in premier league

4/4 start as above. O'Hora on bench for Brighton. Coventry as expected on bench, behind Sanchez and Wilshere. Noble also on bench so expect Coventry only to get a decent run if WH are comfortable. No young Irish in Celtic squad for meaningless league cup tie against a team bottom of first division. Frimpong starts RB establishing himself ahead of O'Connor

[liamoo11]

O hora makes bench for Brighton in what seems a very second string side with Connolly starting with Duffy.

Coventry only sub for west ham

Travers and kilkenny play

Kelleher plays for pool

Barrett plays for reading

[liamoo11]

4/4 start as above. O'Hora on bench for Brighton. Coventry as expected on bench, behind Sanchez and Wilshere. Noble also on bench so expect Coventry only to get a decent run if WH are comfortable. No young Irish in Celtic squad for meaningless league cup tie against a team bottom of first division. Frimpong starts RB establishing himself ahead of O'Connor

That's disappointing for o connor

[Olé Olé]

Connolly taken off on 58. Judging by Twitter he is being saved for the weekend and did okay through the middle on his own.

Duffy limped off though....

[Olé Olé]

https://twitter.com/OfficialBHAFC/status/1176941142308478976?s=19

[samhaydenjr]

Kelleher kept a clean sheet - made two very good saves but also misjudged a corner and got outmuscled when trying to punch away a header across his goal. Could do with bulking up a bit. On the upside he seems adept at receiving a backpass from one full-back and helping it on to the other full-back

[irishfan86]

Kelleher kept a clean sheet - made two very good saves but also misjudged a corner and got outmuscled when trying to punch away a header across his goal. Could do with bulking up a bit. On the upside he seems adept at receiving a backpass from one full-back and helping it on to the other full-back

Watched the full match. I can see why Liverpool are high on him but he is raw. Would be concerned if he was thrown into a competitive match if Randolph was unavailable in immediate future.

Still, the ingredients are there for a top keeper if he continues this trajectory. His confidence/ability on the ball will make him very attractive for top sides as well.

[Olé Olé]

https://punditarena.com/football/oisinmcqueirns2758/caoimhin-kelleher-schoolboy-striker-liverpool-stopper/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Nice insight on "Caoímh" and his development.

[tommy_c12000]

Nice to see Bazunu establish himself firmly as number 1 with man city U23s after shaky start. Also of note James Furlong progresses from u18 to U23s making his debut today. Although Brighton played with kids midweek so perhaps that’s the reason there’s a spot for him today

[Olé Olé]

Furlong is a cracking player. Saw him three times and loved him each time. Far too good to be at 18s level.

[samhaydenjr]

Aaron O'Driscoll on the scoresheet for Southampton U23s tonight: https://www.premierleague.com/match/50643/premier-league-2/2019-20/wolves-v-southampton

[Olé Olé]

Idah and Connolly make the bench for their clubs today. Connolly is accompanied there by Glenn Murray and Jahanbakhsh so it would be a real show of faith if he were introduced ahead of one or both of them.

[Olé Olé]

Obafemi on the bench also for Southampton beside Shane Long. 3 teenage strikers on PL benches. Heady days.

[liamoo11]

Obafemi on the bench also for Southampton beside Shane Long. 3 teenage strikers on PL benches. Heady days.

Is obafemi the closest to been in this senior squad this time?

[liamoo11]

Nunn stepped up to 23 level for Chelsea for first time I tink yesterday might be involved for us up front at 19s this season.

[tommy_c12000]

Another 2 goals for 20 year old Anthony Scully for West Ham in PL 2 division 2, that’s 7 goals in 6 games (only 4 of these were starts). Having not done much at this level for the past couple of years, are we seeing his potential finally coming to fruition? Worth monitoring, can engineer himself a nice loan move in January

[liamoo11]

Another 2 goals for 20 year old Anthony Scully for West Ham in PL 2 division 2, that’s 7 goals in 6 games (only 4 of these were starts). Having not done much at this level for the past couple of years, are we seeing his potential finally coming to fruition? Worth monitoring, can engineer himself a nice loan move in January

Fair play to him. He has been injured for big chunks of last few years I think. Played up a year at under 17s in those euro 17s finals in that team with Masterson and kelleher so was highly rated

[Olé Olé]

Another 2 goals for 20 year old Anthony Scully for West Ham in PL 2 division 2, that’s 7 goals in 6 games (only 4 of these were starts). Having not done much at this level for the past couple of years, are we seeing his potential finally coming to fruition? Worth monitoring, can engineer himself a nice loan move in January
Has had a shocking time with injuries over the past two years and has recently moved into the striker role.

It will be interesting alright.

[liamoo11]

Has had a shocking time with injuries over the past two years and has recently moved into the striker role.

It will be interesting alright.

It's great when you see lads who have nearly been forgotten about because of injuries look like they might have a chance yet. Mcenneff at arsenal is another who has had a great run so far for arsenal 23s after his first 2 years there were destroyed with injuries

[Olé Olé]

Great shout on McEneff. I see he has 6 appearances for what must be a strong under 23 side at Arsenal. Only 18.

[Olé Olé]

Interestingly, Arsenal 23s drew with Liverpool 2-2 yesterday. McEneff started. As did Nathan Tormey and he scored also.

[liamoo11]

Interestingly, Arsenal 23s drew with Liverpool 2-2 yesterday. McEneff started. As did Nathan Tormey and he scored also.

Tormey only played for us at 16s and again seemed to lose 3 years to injury before showing up again a bit after Christmas last season. Not everyone who has playe 16s for us have turned out to be eligible(afew everton lads one season I remember) hopefully not the case with him. Pity he is overage for 19s this season especially with our 21s been stacked.

I have been delighted to see barrett keep up his momentum from the end of last season with 45 mins yesterday a scan full game in league cup midweek for reading . He was playing on loan in conference this time last season

[Olé Olé]

Josh Barrett starting tonight for Reading the league against Fulham. They are down 3-0 at half time though.

[Eirambler]

Celtic getting beaten today, after only drawing last week, might be no harm from an Irish perspective. Might mean they change the team about more for league games before and after European games.

Sounds like things aren't going too great for O'Connor so far though, the lad they signed the same day from Man City seems to be ahead of him for the reserve right back slot, so he might end up getting moved around a lot of positions again, similar to at Man United. Looks like Afolabi is doing well with the reserves though.

[tetsujin1979]

Anthony Scully wins the PL2 Player of the Month for September: https://www.premierleague.com/news/1412167

[tetsujin1979]

Few reports saying that Kian Flanagan had a trial with Doncaster over the international break, with a view to taking him on loan in January

Joshua Kayode is on loan at Gateshead in the national league north at the moment, but he's allowed to play for Rotherham in the Football League Trophy. Think he's still with Ireland, at least I can't find any record of him playing for another country.

[tommy_c12000]

Idah and Obamidele start for Norwich U23s Vs West Brom (no irish playing). No irish playing either for Reading. McEneff not in Arsenal side.

Knight drops down to start for Derby U23s, not seeing a whole lot of volume for seniors so natural to complement it with some developmental game time.

Interestingly, no Parrott for spurs. I really think this is the perfect time to introduce him to prem league, at home vs the bottom club. Everyone at a low ebb, throw on a promising youngster to reignite the “feel good” factor around Spurs again. No Reghba for Leicester

[Eirambler]

Why do you say Frimpong is more highly rated? O'Connor played far more under 23 football last season.

O'Connor may not be going as a right back. He is very versatile and probably doesn't know his best position yet.

Don't think there has been an official announcement yet but he's up there: https://twitter.com/laylaykee/status/1168643244386934785?s=19

Frimpong, the 18 year old right back that Celtic signed from Man City the same day they signed Lee O'Connor, starts for them today. O'Connor doesn't seem to be any nearer to a breakthrough at Celtic than he was at United.

Edit: very positive reports on Frimpong's debut coming out of Celtic Park as well.

[Olé Olé]

https://www.90min.com/posts/6480336-exclusive-german-giants-ready-to-launch-bids-for-tottenham-s-troy-parrott?utm_source=RSS

Wouldn't read much into it but these rumours about our young players are great. Remember Hoffenheim were supposedly tracking Connolly last season. Afolabi was linked with Celtic in January before he did end up signing for them in the summer.

[Razors left peg]

https://www.90min.com/posts/6480336-exclusive-german-giants-ready-to-launch-bids-for-tottenham-s-troy-parrott?utm_source=RSS

Wouldn't read much into it but these rumours about our young players are great. Remember Hoffenheim were supposedly tracking Connolly last season. Afolabi was linked with Celtic in January before he did end up signing for them in the summer.

He'd have a much better chance of getting in there than replacing Harry Kane!

[liamoo11]

Sean brennan at Southampton, Marc Walsh at Swansea and louie Watson at west ham all involved at under 23s today for first time this season and all eligible for us at 19s this season. Still no sign of ferry at Southampton must be injured

Cieron Dunne seems to be a regular for sunderland 23s now

[Olé Olé]

Who has Dunne lined out for last? He didn't go back to the Scots like Shiels?

[liamoo11]

Who has Dunne lined out for last? He didn't go back to the Scots like Shiels?

I dont think he did but I'm not sure. That shields really made a monkey out of us.

[Olé Olé]

A class act at both club and country level.

[Olé Olé]

Trevor Clarke is starting left midfield tonight for Rotherham. He must be really impressing to have broken into the side so quickly after injury.

[samhaydenjr]

Goal and assist for Anthony Scully tonight against Norwich tonight, bringing his recent tally to 11 goals in nine games. Unfortunately Andrew Omobamidele was on the other end of Scully's brace and two others and got himself sent off: https://www.premierleague.com/match/50522/premier-league-2/2019-20/norwich-v-west-ham

In related news, Scully may be about to get a new Irish strike partner, as Mipo Odubeko signs for the Hammers: https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/1025/1085669-highly-rated-ireland-u17-odubeko-makes-move-to-hammers/

[samhaydenjr]

Excellent reaction from Jason Knight to getting moved back to the U23s - scored Derby's two goals against Brighton. Warren O'Hora scored Brighton's sole goal: https://www.premierleague.com/match/50653/premier-league-2/2019-20/albion-v-derby

Meanwhile, Nathan Tormey scored for Arsenal's U23s against Man City. Bazunu was in goal for City and Mark McGuinness was on the bench for The Gunners: 's sole goal: https://www.premierleague.com/match/50656/premier-league-2/2019-20/man-city-v-arsenal
(https://www.premierleague.com/match/50653/premier-league-2/2019-20/albion-v-derby)
With Alisson back, Caoimhin Kelleher is back with the Liverpool U23s and kept a clean sheet against Blackburn. While it was great that he has been on the bench for Premier League games and featured in a League Cup game, you'd have to wonder if his peer/rival at Liverpool, Kamil Grabara, is advancing his career more, having played 13 times for Huddersfield this season: https://www.premierleague.com/match/50710/premier-league-2/2019-20/liverpool-v-blackburn