1997 U20 - Squad

[Royal rover]

i watched this tournament in full on eurosport - i remember at the time molloy really looked the business

Here 's the list - anyone know where they are now - apart from the obvious- looked at the England squad as follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_FIFA_World_Youth_Championship_squads - amazing to think how many of these lads played or still play topflight football in comparsion with our own

Derek o' connor - Hudderfield
David worrell - Blackburn
robbie ryan -huddersfield
colin-Hawkins- Covenrty
Aidan Lynch - UCD
Stephen Murphy- Hudderfield
Niall Inman - Peterborough
John burns- Forest
Michael Cummins - Middlesbrough
Thomos Morgan- Blackburn
duff- Blackburn
David Whittle - Palace
Alan Kirby - Villa
Neale Fenn- spurs
Glen Crowe- wolves
paul Whelan- Oxford
Dessie Baker- Shelbourne
Trevor molloy- Athlone

[Dodge]

Derek o' connor - Gave up football
David worrell -
robbie ryan - Tamworth (I think)
colin-Hawkins- Coventry
Aidan Lynch - Think he had to retire
Stephen Murphy-
Niall Inman -
John burns-
Michael Cummins -
Thomos Morgan- Kildare County
duff- some hospital no doubt
David Whittle - Waterford?
Alan Kirby - Pats
Neale Fenn- Bohs
Glen Crowe- Bohs
paul Whelan- Gave up football
Dessie Baker- Shamrock
Trevor molloy- About to move from motherwell to Bray

[drummerboy]

Look at the French squad

1 GK Mickael Landreau Nantes
2 DF Willy Sagnol 1Saint-Etienne
3 DF Jean Sebastien Jaures France Auxerre
4 DF Mikael Silvestre
5 DF William Gallas
6 MF Peter Luccin x
7 MF Yoann Bigné
8 MF Kuami Agboh
9 FW Thierry Henry 1
10 FW Daniel Moreira
11 FW David Trézéguet
12 MF Kodjo Afanou
13 DF Philippe Christanval
14 FW Nicolas Anelka
15 MF Medhi Leroy
16 GK Jérémie Janot
17 FW Cedric Mouret
18 FW Lilian Compan 3

[drummerboy]

Whelan playing in goal for Mount Merrion in LSL

[Dodge]

Whelan playing in goal for Mount Merrion in LSL

I meant he had given up on professional football

[Dr. Ogba]

that's gas, Jon Macken was in England's squad....

[Stuttgart88]

Didn't Robbie Ryan at least get to play in a FA Cup Final?

Michael Cummins was at Port Vale for ages, now at Darlington.

David Worrell is at Dundee.

Thanks to Tetsujin's database http://www.chatsoccer.net:8080/irishabroad/playerDetails.xquery

[Dodge]

Yep, Millwall

[Stuttgart88]

How did we do in that tournament? was this the one where we lost 1-0 in the semi final to Argentina?

[Dodge]

Yep. Look at the argentinian side. Amazing level of players.

I'm 1000% convinced that several of the Irish players were good enough for top level football but the lack of strong league here hindered them. That and Brian Kerr is s afootball genius

[ifk101]

Niall Inman - Mildenhall Town FC, Eastern Counties Football League Premier Division.
Courtesy of Wikipedia.

[Row Z]

Stephen Murphy is also playing for Mount merrion in the LSL... getting a few quid so dont know whether that constitutes an amateur:D

[dr_peepee]

Derek O'Connor is still in England but not playing anymore from what i heard... Grew up in the Ballyfermot too. Nice guy. Shame it didn't work out for him..

[NeilMcD]

Neal Feen may as well have gave up football to be honest.

[drummerboy]

I meant he had given up on professional football

Think you will find he is probably getting more at MM (moneymen) that a lot of First Division EL clubs

[Dodge]

True enough (but you know what I mean...)

[noby]

David Whittle - Waterford?


Kilkenny, last I heard.

[stojkovic]

Yep. Look at the argentinian side. Amazing level of players.

I'm 1000% convinced that several of the Irish players were good enough for top level football but the lack of strong league here hindered them. That and Brian Kerr is s afootball genius


Yep Riquelme ran the show. Player of tournament. Subsequent tournaments unearthed Saviola, Tevez, Cambiasso, Messi, Rodrigez, Mascherano, Samuel and so on. No wonder they've won it 6 or 7 times.

Hawkins, Molloy and Tommy Morgan were released from their clubs while that tournament was on and were snapped up by Pats. Third best team in the world and they get released. Strange. Says alot about English football.

[cavan_fan]

Hawkins, Molloy and Tommy Morgan were released from their clubs while that tournament was on and were snapped up by Pats. Third best team in the world and they get released. Strange. Says alot about English football.


They havent proven the clubs wrong have they. I think that team was exceptionally well managed by a world class manager in the way Greece were. The players were average (with the exception of Duff)

[Dodge]

They havent proven the clubs wrong have they.

Well Coventry signed Hawkins last year... Morgan and Hawkins were released before it, and signed by pats after it. Molloy was actually signed by Pats (from Athlone) before the thng started

[Torn-Ado]

I remember getting up early midweek to see the Ireland Argentina match. Ireland put up a great show. Third in the world was some achievement.

[Dave77]

that was a great time for irish football, was it in the argentina game that robbie ryan went on a mazy run from left back not sure if it was argies or ghana

[stojkovic]

They havent proven the clubs wrong have they. I think that team was exceptionally well managed by a world class manager in the way Greece were. The players were average (with the exception of Duff)

Had they been kept by their clubs who knows what would have happened. Clubs have made mistakes releasing players who drop down a league and come back up and go on to play in World Cups etc. However many Irish players take the 'easy' way out and come home.

[Rocky77]

Derek O'Connor is still in England but not playing anymore from what i heard... Grew up in the Ballyfermot too. Nice guy. Shame it didn't work out for him..

Yeah he became a landscape gardiner I think.


Kilkenny, last I heard.

I think he gave up and is a guard somewhere.

I remember watching the games and if you would have told me that three of the team would go on to play for Longford Town I doubt I would have believed it.

Ironic that Hawkins is at Coventry now as he was then considering he spent 10 years away from the club in between.

[Ordinary Fan]

Mick McCarty would'nt allow Kerr pick David Connelly or Iam Harte for his squad because they had played with the senior team.

They trained in Limerick before hand and wore bin-liners as part of their kit to prepare for the humity.