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In terms of current ability I'd go:
1. Ferguson
2. Szmodics
3. Cannon (underrated relative to Idah and Parrott because he's not Irish born/didn't play much underage for us)
4. Idah
5. Robinson
6. Parrott (sorry I'm still not convinced by him)
7. Connolly (could jump up the list quickly if he finally gets his head down and stays fit)
8. Armstrong (great player, just not a great scorer)
9. Vata
10. Barry (if he wanted to come on board)
11. Obafemi (I've pretty much given up on him)
12. Emakhu
That's a really good list, particularly if things go as they are for the next month, with Cannon's form starting to make him a serious option.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Apologies John and EalingGreenQuote:
Originally Posted by John83
Jacob Slater - English born, Irish U21 international is on the bench for B&HA this evening. Played for us earlier in November. Left Back...
Weird, random addition to this thread. I was looking through European scores on the BBC to see how any Irish players abroad might have performed. For some reason, I keep thinking that Conor Noß plays for LASK instead of Blau-Weiß Linz. So when I went into the line-ups from their game against Austria Vienna, I didn't find his name (He actually did come on as a sub for Linz in a game against Rapid Vienna). I was about to leave the LASK V Austria Vienna page when I noticed that there was a player for Vienna called M. Malone. Thinking initially that a famous fishmonger had risen from the dead and was blazing a trail for women footballers, I looked up Austria Vienna's squad list on Wikipedia and found a German underage player called Maurice Malone. Wikipedia noted that he is of American descent... it also claimed that, not only is he also eligible for the Republic of Ireland, but that "Hallgrímsson is on the verge of calling him up for the Irish national football team". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Malone
I know you have to be careful about what you read on Wikipedia because anybody can change things in there, but has anybody heard anything about his qualification or potential interest from Halgrimsson?
He's on Instagram, I've send him a message. Let's see what happens.
Let's hope M Malone doesn't turn out to be a catfishmonger...
The first person to mention Conor Sammon gets a life ban.
Well what sort of chance does that give me?!
Might need to add Scales to that list just in case.Quote:
Originally Posted by third policeman
yes i think best to add scales, for balance.Quote:
Originally Posted by texidub
Might as well add Gary Bream to the list while we're at it
Or Paddy Roche.
Many of you on here are clowns fishing for thanks!
Aston Villa looking to recall Louie Barry from Stockport and send him out to a Championship club in the New Year - Leeds among those interested. Well, it looks like it's now or never for an approach:https://www.teamtalk.com/leeds-unite...allow-big-exit
Most subtle one yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson looking to expand his playing options in 2025
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...505874004.html
Good to see HH doing this, some managers can be really poor at exploring squad options. Who are the realistic eligible players at the moment that we know of who are 1) realistic and 2) actually good enough that they might improve us?
Cirkin seems the most obvious one, since he's a left back. Not the quickest so I'd say he'll never get a look in with England. We haven't had a genuinely defensively good left back in a long time.
Clarke Salter is injury prone but has been good for QPR when he has played. But he's a centre back and we already have the likes of Cashin, Dunne and McNally who aren't getting a look in. He's left footed, which might give him something to make him of interest, but then so is Cashin (and obviously Scales).
Key seems like a possible one given we're not overstocked at full back. He's keeping Cyrus Christie out of the Swansea team. But reports on his form/level from Swansea fans are mixed at best. Might not be good enough.
There's talk of Louie Barry getting a Championship loan move in January and if that goes well his name will come up quite a lot I think. He's only a few months younger than Cannon though and has a far less impressive CV. But anyone scoring goals in the Championship is worthy of consideration, particularly a 21 year old.
Delap I'd imagine is not realistic at the moment and probably never will be.
In terms of players potentially going the other way I think Vata will be a serious flight risk until we cap-tie him. He's still got another under 21 campaign to come but if his form is good I wouldn't hesitate to get him involved in the seniors - we need to be proactive, especially when a lad is eligible for four countries.
Anyone else I'm forgetting? Obviously there could be players we're not aware of also.
Read in various places Morgan Rodgers at Villa qualified, think England tidied that up in the NL. Alex Scott at Bournemouth, currently injured was also mentioned. Both embedded in their own FA's pathway anyway. Kieran Dewsbury Hall isn't having much EPL game time at Chelsea but playing plenty in Europe. Hasn't been interested previously though.
Louie Barry is definitely worth a call (if not sounded out already). It might be the right time to do it too because it will test how keen or otherwise he is to play for us. He's well off the England radar but is upwardly mobile and retains a chance of senior caps for them in the future. If he reaches his ceiling and identifies he isn't good enough - which he can't have done yet - then we might get that call and I hate that call. Remember the Scott Hogan stall?Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Dewsbury-Hall you don't mention but he might not be realistic. He would fall into the following bucket for sure: "If it’s a high-profile player that can play for us, maybe we have the first approach."
Egan rliey burnley and Michael golding from.leicester maybeQuote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Watched the last two games for Liverpool u18s and Joe Bradshaw scored 4 across the two games (2 against Wolves and 2 against Everton), along with one assist. Means he's scored 10 so far this season and is their top scorer - and done it all from right midfield (or right wing). Didn't realise he had played for Ireland u15 in our current u17 group. He'd be a very good addition. Also played for one game for England at u15 level - but hasn't played for either nation since then.
Ireland eligible Braiden Graham stood out for Everton as well - scored 1 and missed 2 or 3 sitters - but looked very lively throughout. He's a NI u19, having signed from Linfield in the summer. Luke O'Donnell also played for Wolves in the other game, few nice passes but Wolves tended to play down the wings, so was less involved than you'd expect and didn't have the opportunity to show his running power.
It is interesting, Premier League sides are now targeting NI kids given brexit and the lack of options across Europe. 25 of their 32 callups at u19 level are based in England or Scotland compared to us. We'd have 20/38 call-ups based in Ireland. It's a realtime Sample A/B on home development vs sending kids abroad at 16.
Homebased percentage
Ireland u17 72%
Ireland u18 86%
Ireland u19 53%
Ireland u21 10%
NI u17 70% (lots of u16s in this squad - only half of the 70% are old enough to leave so 30% abroad, 35% home based, 35% too young to travel)
NI u18 18%
NI u19 22%
NI u21 22%
I wonder what kieran Morrisons connection is to the North? Having excellent season for Liverpool 18s and 21s. Him and Doherty scored for the 21s against Crystal palace. An absolutely shocking standard from the extended highlights I wstched . Poor Tom Hill is still.playing at that level at 22 must be utterly soul destroyingQuote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Grandmother from NewryQuote:
Originally Posted by liamoo11
With Conor Bradley and Justin Devenny both good enough to get in our team right now, from the recently expired u21s class - along with Shea Charles, Tray Hume, Isaac Price and Ross McCausland - that would be a good crop by our standards.
You could certainly argue that the following group is almost as promising as anything we could list (and there's plenty of lads who I don't know in their underage set-up):
- Ruari McConville (Brighton)
- Callum Marshall (West Ham)
- Braiden Graham (Everton)
- Kieran Morrison (Liverpool)
- Francis Turley (Celtic)
- Ceadach O’Neill (Arsenal)
- George Feeney (Spurs)
All goes back to our wider points about identifying eligible players who are good enough and want to play for Ireland early, probably by age 13 (they generally give out u16 caps age 14 or 15, so you'd want to have identified potential u15s for us a year or two in advance).
It's difficult now. If you try convince Morrison or O'Neill at this age to switch, then they can be left in the netherworld where they can't play international football at all (see Darragh Burns, Marcus McGuane) - but if we don't approach them to switch at underage level, they're capped within minutes, often before they've even played senior football (Ruari McConville most recent example) and the longer they stick, the less likely they are to switch. At least when they don't make it for us, they can switch and still be internationals if they're good enough (Ronan Hale a prime example, Stephen Mallon will be if he is good enough)
I think this will hurt us as well. I read an interview with Jimmy Dunne last week where he was saying how far behind he felt he was going over at 16. It's going to be even worse for the lads now going over at 18. I think there's a reason why so many of our lads peak late in their careers, they spend years playing catch up on the contact hours and skills they've missed out on at a younger age.Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Mikey Moore was mentioned on YBIG.
No idea if its accurate & probably isn't. Breakout season at Spurs & embedded in his own FA structures anyhow. Irish Independent article on him in October didn't mention eligibility either.
He's almost certainly ineligible then.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
I don't know what to make of the noise on Twitter surrounding Oisin Smyth and Caolan Boyd Munce scoring goals to beat Rangers. They represent or have represented Northern Ireland.
Well both are 24 now and would be nowhere near our squad if they were with us, so I don't think we need to concern ourselves about it too much either way.
They would be nowhere near our squad. That is true. I just find it all bit strange how their Irish names and Smyth's gaelic pedigree and Boyd Munce being from West Belfast are all being reported on. Topped off by Smyth's post match interview where he says that the goals meant a lot to them particularly - draw any inference on that because journos and tweeters are.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
I find it all a bit mad. They hate the club Rangers but love international side Northern Ireland?
Love might be carrying a lot there ! ! !Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Yeah I don't think there is much "love" there, they just played for them at underage level and would no doubt take any senior caps on offer as well as they're the only ones they're realistically going to get.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
It all goes back to the question: is the FAI doing enough to ensure talented players are not lost to other associations? You can be damned sure the IFA is working very hard to dissuade players from switching.
You'd have to imagine they are not. Anyone that has running anything would appreciate that an organisation would need to be well organised and structured to identify the players, maintain a database of them, initiate communication, periodically follow up with the players and address any concerns or blockers precluding them from throwing their lot in with us. You would require a dedicated unit for all of that. I don't know if the FAI have one or are doing this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Predator
Without knowing the set up, we have had more luck with Derry lads at underage level. Trent Kone Doherty an example. I'm assuming that the Derry lads that play for Ireland land on our laps. Doherty being at Derry City which is intrinsically linked to the football structures of ROI feels like that is how he naturally was able to be available for selection and be selected by us?
Most northern Irish underage sides have lads from Derry City in them. Doherty wanted to play for the republic so he did just like Bradley could have if he wanted to . It's really that simple.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
Another goal for Louie Barry, 15th of the season. Is he heading back to Villa for another loan or no? Thought I saw that mentioned somewhere.
Goal for Ollie O’Neill too. I’ll chuck that in here while I’m at it.
Barry will be heading to the Championship in the next few weeks I'd say. A lot of promotion chasing teams will be looking at him and also Cannon, if there is an option to recall Cannon and sell/loan him elsewhere.
Barry and o Neill were part of a front 3 maybe 8 years ago at this stage for the under 16s in the victory shield with sinclair Armstrong and egN Riley playing defensive midfield(badly) getting overrun by conor Bradley in centre mid for the northQuote:
Originally Posted by SkStu
Ultimately it comes down to that choice, no doubt, but I believe that the FAI can and should do more to persuade players. At this point in history, most young players in the north are aware that they have options internationally and various factors feed into their choice - family background, sense of identity, personal relationships and so on. If the IFA (through its coaches et al) is working hard on a personal level with a player and making the case that they will be better served with the IFA, the FAI can't afford to just sit back and hope for the best. In the case of Bradley, who you mention, it's clear that the FAI was too passive and late to the game, whereas the IFA had fashioned a pathway for him as a senior international. Bradley was playing U16 football for Norn Iron in 2018 and by 2021, at the age of 17, he was a senior international. I'm sure the smart people at the FAI have considered this.Quote:
Originally Posted by liamoo11