U21 squad VS Qatar and Andorra

U21 squad announced for friendly VS Qatar on Friday, and qualifier VS Andorra on Tuesday: http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/king-...-andorra-games

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REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U21s:

Daniel Rogers (Aberdeen - on loan Falkirk)
Eric Grimes (Leeds United)
Thomas Hoban (Watford)
Glen Rea (Brighton - on-loan at Southend)
Darragh Lenihan (Blackburn Rovers)
Shane Griffin (Reading)
Alan Browne (Preston North End)
Jack Connors (Dagenham)
Dylan Connolly (Ipswich Town)
Sean Kavanagh (Fulham)
Callum O'Dowda (Oxford United)
Reece Grego-Cox (QPR)
Brian Lenihan (Hull City)
Sean Long (Reading)
Conor Wilkinson (Barnsley)
Shamir Goodwin (Crawley Town)
Sean Maguire (Dundalk)
Sam Byrne (Everton)
Josh Cullen (West Ham)

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Only two players with Premier League clubs

Probably just as well from their perspective. How many of the above are starters or at least semi-regular for their clubs? That'd be my main concern.

I saw O'Dowda feature prominently in a FL72 weekend goal review last weekend. Scored and an assist.

i guess jack byrne would be included were he not injured.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Probably just as well from their perspective. How many of the above are starters or at least semi-regular for their clubs? That'd be my main concern.

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From what I can tell, only Rogers, Wilkinson and O'Dowda are starting regularly. Rea made his Southend debut last week, Browne has made a few sub appearances in the league and Cullen has briefly appeared for West Ham.

Jack Byrne is injured but where is Kenny McEvoy, Eoghan O'Connell, Ian Lawlor, Dan Cleary, Alex O'Hanlon etc. Can never understand the FAI picking inferior players for their squads.

Lawlor is injured, McEvoy is overage and I don't know if the rest are actually better than those in the squad.

Lawlor is back in training at Man City. Has a few appearances for the reserves.
The U19s are playing Italy next week, but the squad hasn't been announced yet, some of those could be in it,

A few players have been tweeting that they're in the squad
Connor Ellis (Cork City): https://twitter.com/ConnorEllis09/st...68957144924164
Thomas Cadman (Brighton): https://twitter.com/Thomascadman6/st...97642737508352

Players born on or after 1 January 1994 are eligible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republ...#Current_squad

Apologies, I probably should have looked that up. Still, I think players like O'Hanlon and McEvoy have reputations because they're at big clubs but that doesn't mean they're the right players to pick. King goes to watch these guys in reserve leagues and whatever so he's seeing them on a more regular basis than any of us.

Some would say a complete waste of time going to all those reserve/underage games when all he really has to do is give Paul O'Shea a call.

Sooo....is anyone going to mention the elephant in the room...or not in the room, as it were...or possibly in another room...or maybe not.

No, still injured

From the earlier discussion, appearance wise, this group aren't doing too well this season. Nobody starting in the Premier League or Championship. A few getting appearances in the League Cup. Others still with the U21s of Championship teams. Bleak

Prem
Josh Cullen	Sub(90)	Prem	(West Ham)
Thomas Hoban	Sub	Prem	(Watford)
Champ
Alan Browne	Sub(70)	Champ	(Preston North End)
Darragh Lenihan	Started	Lge Cup	(Blackburn Rovers)
Reece Grego-Cox	Started	Lge Cup	(QPR)
Sean Kavanagh	Sub	Lge Cup	(Fulham)
Dylan Connolly	Started	U21s Champ	(Ipswich Town)
Eric Grimes	Started	U21s Champ	(Leeds United)
Shane Griffin	Started	U21s Champ	(Reading)
Brian Lenihan	Started	U21s Champ	(Hull City)
Sean Long	Started	U21s Champ	(Reading)
Lge 1
Glen Rea	Started	Lge 1	(Brighton - on-loan at Southend)
Conor Wilkinson	Started	Lge 1	(Barnsley)
Lge 2
Callum O'Dowda	Started	Lge 2	(Oxford United)
Jack Connors	Sub	Lge 2	(Dagenham)
Shamir Goodwin	Sub	Lge 2	(Crawley Town)
Sco Champ
Daniel Rogers	Started	Sco Champ	(Aberdeen - on loan Falkirk)
LOI
Sean Maguire	Sub	LOI	(Dundalk)

		Rogers
Connors	Hoban		Lenihan	Kavanagh
	Cullen		Browne
Connolly		Grego-Cox		O'Dowda
		Wilkinson

Incidentally, Sam Byrne has pulled out through injury which is unusual for an Everton player. David Unsworth up to no good no doubt!:p

Unsworth had praise for Byrne after he scored a brace on Monday for the U21s
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2015/0...clinical-byrne
http://www.evertonfc.com/news/2015/0...ort-u21s-spurs

Elsewhere, this article says

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Elsewhere in the Under-21s squads, Jindrich Stanek represents Czech Republic, Sam Byrne, Harry Charsley and Mateusz Hewelt have been selected by Republic of Ireland

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Considering the U19 comp is for players after 1/1/97 and U21 is for 1/1/94 and the 2 players Charsley and Hewelt are both 1996, is there some U20 training group called up that wasn't announced?

A 4-1 win v Qatar U23
Ireland: Rogers (Grimes 46), Long, Hoban (D.Lenihan 46), Griffin, Connors, Browne, Cullen (Charsley 61), O’Dowda (B.Lenihan 46), Connolly (Maguire 46), Wilkinson (Fenelon 46), Kavanagh (Grego-Cox 46)
http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/king-...eat-qatar-u23s

Kavanagh up front? Scored 2

Just gone 1 up in against Andorra in u21 game....Thomas hoban....12mins

2up now...Joshua cullen

Live stream on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-C5jAoa04w
not great quality, but watchable