Ireland B Team Announcement

[adamcarr]

Danny Murphy and Pat McCourt aren't available . . . . . .
.

He has played underage for Ireland and is eligable!

[pete]

I have a feeling that this could trun out to be a trial match for players making a move abroad...

[Roo69]

FFS ... .does that make it OK now so Roo ...... Jebus wept of course it fúcking doesn't

Cut the shít now and give us your opinion !!

Is this THE best appointment for the job ... yes or no ..... why?
Is Devlin compromised IN ANY WAY by taking up this job ??

Be sensible ffs .... are you that blinded !!

I gave my opnion ! i think this is a great move for Devo and the players who ply there trade in the eL. At the end of the day this is to give players who are up and coming or on the fringe of the full squad, to give players experience at playing at a higher level etc....

I would think that most players in the league would be happy with "one of there own" getting the position as well, it means thta they will have a greater chance of playing at this type of level, but of course this will only count for a select few players who play in our league (it might not even effect any of our players)

The whole idea to to try and develop players for our Senior International Team, not to try and find players for english clubs, that idea is just so fcuking stupid !

As i've always said, if a player is good enough (example, Kevin Doyle) then he will be spotted and signed no matter were he is playing or who he is playing with.

The idea of Bobby Robson doing this job is, again just fcuking stupid. Does any seriously expect him to travel around the country every week to watch eL matches ? as i said before he would'nt have a clue about the players or the clubs. At least with Devo he knows it INSIDE OUT and BACK TO FRONT.

If any eL players were to be maybe brought intop the B squad i reckon they would be Gamble, Heary, Ward and possibly O'Callaghan

[tiktok]

Someone mentioned Bobby Robson for the post, Do they honestly think he would attend eL matches every week ? or even who the players and clubs are ? he would'nt have a clue......

Agreed. The decision to go with an EL man is a good one, shame it's Devlin though.
As I've said Pat Dolan would have been a great choice (and I don't particularly like him either).


And why no fuss about Bray's assistant manager, Tony McGuirk, when he manages the Irish U19 squad ? Half the moaners probably did'nt even know that....
You're overstating it Roo......
I can only remember him filling in once, McCaffrey is clearly the man in charge there, so I'd assume that McGuirk was managing a squad seen and assembled by McCaffrey. In the same situation McGuirk would be no better able to view players on a weekly basis so would be a bad choice too.


On another note, what players if any will be included in the B Internationals from the eL ?
In terms of looking to the future and possible caps

Murphy (Rovers)
Heary(Shels) Bennett(CCFC) Gray(Drogs) Murphy(Cork)
O'Donovan (Cork) Gamble (Cork) O'Callaghan (Cork) Zayed (Bray)
Byrne (Shels) O'Flynn (Cork)

obvious Cork bias I know, but then I only get to see Cork play regularly and the rest rarely (a problem I'll share with Devlin) ;)

Quigley, Dicker, Ward would all be there, luckily at the moment there's a good crop to chose from.

[NeilMcD]

I think Scotland have abandoned the idea of a Future team, I think Walter Smith got rid of it after a couple of games under his control.

[Dodge]

Jason Byrne and Georga O'Callaghan are too old to develop into better players. Think the age limit should be 24 at a max

[pete]

Jason Byrne and Georga O'Callaghan are too old to develop into better players. Think the age limit should be 24 at a max

It depends on what other options are. Graham Kavanagh made his international debut when he in last 20s.

[Dodge]

Nothing wrong with picking anybody for the senior team at that age but the B team should be a development team, not just a reward for playing well in the league. Its only my opninion mind

[livehead1]

Jason Byrne and Georga O'Callaghan are too old to develop into better players. Think the age limit should be 24 at a max
thats a ridiculous comment to make. its like you feels theres some precedent that ensures that no player is allowed to get better after they get to 23-24. players improve at different rates and at different times in their career. for a man with so many posts i would have thought you would have seen this by now, given your obvious love for the game. examples have been used before such as aldridge at oxford and sheringham winning 50 caps, the first of which at 29.

[Dodge]

Livehead where did I say they shouldn't be considered for senior selection?

Aldridge is a rubbish example too. He only found out he was Irish around about his 29th birthday...

[Stuttgart88]

27-03-90 Turner's Cross, Cork
Republic of Ireland B 4 (McLoughlin, D Kelly (pen), Quinn 2) England B 1 (Atkinson)Sure what did McLoughlin, Kelly & Quinn ever go on to do for the senior team? :)

[Dodge]

Kelly had scored a hat trick for the senior team about 3 years earlier...

The anfield team was a disgrace with Wheland and Townsend in midfield.

[Stuttgart88]

Kelly had scored a hat trick for the senior team about 3 years earlier...I know, was just taking the p1ss.

[thejollyrodger]

who are the b team going to face ?? Have they lots of matches lined up ??

[Roverstillidie]

here is a question.

will a promising el player be ever be in a situation where selection for the ireland b team, and all the exposure and kudos that follows might be in any way shape or form contingent on selecting an unnamed unoffical 'advisor' to handle his affairs?

or heaven forbid that el players with a certain unnamed unoffical 'advisor' might climb up the pecking order for no other reason....

did anyone see hylands media equivalent of a blowjob for stan in todays herag? cringeworthy stuff. stan is great beause he is availible for the press, 'building bridges', goes to el games (paradoxically he slags kerr off for being at the same bray game) and most importantly has made it clear to senior players that friendlies are optional. which is apparantly a welcome relief from kerrs attitude of preparing for and trying to win non-competitive games for you mugs who pay in. which as i recalll hyland thought was a superb thing when kerr took over.

herald = agenda ridden ****s

[Paddy Garcia]

here is a question.

most importantly has made it clear to senior players that friendlies are optional. which is apparantly a welcome relief from kerrs attitude of preparing for and trying to win non-competitive games for you mugs who pay in.

herald = agenda ridden ****s

The interesting thing is that in the Sweden game there was a sense that the players wanted to play in the game & also to play for Staunton & his team (I recall one celebration with the bench!).

Far better to have it optional & have players willing to turn out for you, than enforcing attendance on players who don't want to be there. The games I wanted Kerr to win were the competitive ones & to take risks in the friendlys.

[Shelsman]

As far as I'm concerned this is the best thing to happen to the eL since summer soccer. The manager appointed is of secondary importance but having someone who knows the eL is a bonus. As for all the arguments about Devlin being an unofficial agent etc I'm sure all the best players in the eL already have an agent!

A 50/50 mix of eL to non-Premiership players would be good. This will finally be a chance to find out if eL players are as good or better than other Irish players who play in the lower divisions in England.

It's also a great opportunity for eL players to show that they can play at a higher level ( surely a 'B' team from most other countries would still be formidable e.g. Germany, Italy, France, England, Spain etc although I would like us to play countries where we would at least have a chance of winning first, then move on to play the top teams ).

[Roverstillidie]

As for all the arguments about Devlin being an unofficial agent etc I'm sure all the best players in the eL already have an agent!
.

read the first part of my post 3 up. maybe they might need an advisor too...

he makes about 2/3 of brays league games because he is busy with 'other' things ffs, hardly the best man for the job. why not dolan? givens? king? all out of work and know the scene? when will he get to scout players? when they play bray? you might as well give roddy the job, he will have the same conflicts of interest.

[blobbyblob]

I think you are jumping the gun to be honest. Regardless of who is in charge, who says that you are going to have a significant number of Eircom league players involved in this B setup. The Eircom league has been acknowledged in the statement and by the appointment but other than that, the potential prospects for progression to the senior ranks will be playing across the water. You are kidding yourself if you think anything else. You spend most of your time debating who will be the next greatest thing irish boy in the premiership anyway and the fact of the matter is that if you want a proper candidate for longjevity in the senior international ranks, they will have to at least be playing regularly in the Championship.

Ask yourself, do you honestly think that Kevin Doyle would be considered for a serious longterm prospect for the senior squad if playing in the Eircom league.

[Poor Student]

It's been clearly stated by Devlin on the radio that there's doesn't have to be any eL players. There's also a few forgotten players in Scotland like Foran (if he's put the bust up behind him?), Byrne, Dempsey, Hunt, McCormack (not sure if he'll stay at Motherwell or go back to Preston), Hoolahan and Healy, not to mention McGeady who might expect a look in too.

[ifk101]

It's been clearly stated by Devlin on the radio that there's doesn't have to be any eL players. There's also a few forgotten players in Scotland like Foran (if he's put the bust up behind him?), Byrne, Dempsey, Hunt, McCormack (not sure if he'll stay at Motherwell or go back to Preston), Hoolahan and Healy, not to mention McGeady who might expect a look in too.

Plenty of players in the Championship and Premiership that would be looking to get into that squad as well - ie Murphy at Sunderland, McCarthy at Leicester, Doyle at Coventry, Dunne at Millwall, Hunt at Reading, Delaney at Hull, Mahon and O'Connor at Burnley to name just a few. I'd honesty be surprised if there's more than a token number of LOI players in the squad.

[Shelsman]

I think most of us would settle for 3 to 5 eL players in the squad.

I don't think there would be any point in having U21s in the squad as the idea is to keep track of players who can no longer play for Ireland at an underage level but who have not played ( much or at all ) for the senior squad.

My three would be:

Jason Byrne
John O'Flynn
Jason Gavin

If were going to make it 5 then would also include:

Colin Hawkins
Stephen Bradley / Declan O'Brien

[Shelsman]

Here are some candidates:

I know this is probably overlapping / the same as the 'Irish Players in Britain' thread

GK
Stack, Graham Goal 26 Sep 1981
Murphy, Joe Goal 21 Aug 1981
Colgan, Nick Goal 19 Sep 1973
Henderson, Wayne Goal 16 Sep 1983

Defence
McCarthy, Paddy
Maybury, Alan Defence 8 Aug 1978
Clarke, Clive Defence 14 Jan 1980
Goodwin, Jim Midfield 20 Nov 1981
Kelly, S, Stephen Defence 6 Sep 1983

Midfield
Quinn, Alan Midfield 13 Jun 1979
Healy, Colin Midfield 14 Mar 1980
Douglas, Jonathon Midfield 22 Nov 1981
Rowlands, Martin Midfield 8 Feb 1979
Doyle, M, Michael Midfield 8 Jul 1981
Delap, Rory Midfield 6 Jul 1976
Ireland, Stephen Midfield 22 Aug 1986
McPhail, Stephen Midfield 9 Dec 1979
Hoolahan, Wes Midfield 10 Aug 1983

Forwards
Lee, Alan Forward 21 Aug 1978
Crowe, Glen Forward 25 Dec 1977
Barrett, Graham Forward 6 Oct 1981
Byrne, Jason Forward 23 Feb 1978
Doyle, K, Kevin Forward 18 Sep 1983
Foley, Dominic

[Stuttgart88]

I don't think there would be any point in having U21s in the squad as the idea is to keep track of players who can no longer play for Ireland at an underage level but who have not played ( much or at all ) for the senior squad.
Personally I'm not convinced by that line of thinking. I think the better U21s should be considered to help them step up a level. Stephen Ward, Glenn Whelan, Paul McShane & Jay Tabb spring to mind.

And isn't there a risk that our U21s won't have any competitive matches over the next 2 years (if they don't get past Azerbaijan)? Looking at Don Givens' competitive record this is a real risk. :(

[Stuttgart88]

I know you were careful to say "candidates" but get Colgan off that list! I wouldn't even consider him a candidate. :)

I'd have Supple, Doyle, Randolph & Quigley way ahead of him.

It's tough - there are simply loads of Irish players playing to a decent but ultimately mediocre standard that it's a tough job to choose among them, especially in midfield. It'll be interesting to see.

[dynamo kerry]

anyone over 25 already has to be ruled out.. the ipswich lads are a good example..

in a modern ear though you have to say playing at that level is way more of a shop window and some fans would probably rather local heroes didn't play