Future Irish team/squad

Cavan_fan - I think he will/would make it in the premier league. At what level in the league is another question though. Others who have seen him play more I have would be better placed than myself to make that call. I know people raved about his performance for the under-21's against England but in my experience it's best not to trust performances for underage levels. They can be a big red herring for future prospects. As regards his overall progress for Ipswich and as a player in general, was his career not derailed by serious illness at one point?

My main concern for us post South Africa would definately be in defence, both central and full-back. This has always been a traditional strength of ours. Apart from O'Dea and Wilson, who are the best prospects I've seen, there doesn't seem to be many players of genuine quality coming through. I think we may struggle with strength in depth here. Does anyone else share this concern?

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Originally Posted by The Fly

My main concern for us post South Africa would definately be in defence, both central and full-back. This has always been a traditional strength of ours. Apart from O'Dea and Wilson, who are the best prospects I've seen, there doesn't seem to be many players of genuine quality coming through. I think we may struggle with strength in depth here. Does anyone else share this concern?

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No.

Dunne should still be playing at a high level.

Hopefully O'Shea is playing at centre-half regularly somewhere.

St. Ledger will hopefully have been recognized at that point

McShane, while I'm not his biggest fan, seems to be doing well at Hull. As he matures he'll only improve.

Wilson is highly rated at Portsmouth as you say, and can play at left-full or centre half.

I think O'Dea is meant to be a centre-half, and he should never be used as a fullback. Looks quality in the middle though.

Hope he gets out of Celtic or is given a chance there.

Foley seems to be getting rave reviews- right backs don't get talked about like he's being talked about.

His teammate, Ward, is playing fantastically at left-full by all accounts as well.

I was very impressed by Eddie Nolan when I watched him play for Preston at right full.

I'll give you a little depth chart here of players I feel will emerge post 2010 (some players fill multiple categories):

Right backs:

Foley
Nolan

Centre-halfs:

O'Dea
St. Ledger
Wilson
McShane

Left-full:

Ward

There are other guys that can come into the reckoning as well that are harder to predict. A Championship journeyman like Paddy McCarthy may become a viable option as he matures, or a player could emerge from nowhere.

Some young players just jump from the academy right into a squad.

Maybe a LoI centre-half can make the breakthrough as it looks like Gartland will do.

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Originally Posted by cavan_fan

Garvan has not progressed in 3 years, he has been a fairy regular performer for a poor Ipswich sie all that time. What other country wol still be getting so excited by him.

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Of course he has. He's rated as Ipswich's best player now. He was out ill/injured for almost a season aswel. He made the official Championship team of the week 3 out of 4 weeks recently. He'll be in the premiership next season no doubt.

Rather than look at the players coming through, it's probably more beneficial to look at the players who will be calling it quits/needing to be phased out.

Given: You guys probably won't want to hear this, but we need to seriously start looking at his replacement. He seems to be getting increasingly more injury-prone. Also, while he's still our best 'keeper by a mile, his performances this year are down on his previous season which in turn were down on the one before that.

Kilbane: Has lost his place in the team at Wigan. We're not exactly blessed in the left-back position though. Think we need to start blooding some youngsters.

Finnan: Increasingly injury-prone, out of the Espanyol team and getting on. I can see him calling it a day after this World Cup campaign.

Duff: Next year Duff is going to be 30. We've already seen that his injuries have affected his performances and kept him on the treatment table. As our best winger, we seriously need to find a play who can at least come close to his calibre. Hunt and McGeady are decent, but at their ages, they're not likely to match his ability.

i disagree about given, his performances for ireland since the kerr/staunton era's have been his best ever for ireland, and hes been consistantly excellent at club level since he broke through. his performance level will never drop, lets just hope he does a david james and plays for us untill hes 38

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Originally Posted by Carrigaline

Given: You guys probably won't want to hear this, but we need to seriously start looking at his replacement. He seems to be getting increasingly more injury-prone. Also, while he's still our best 'keeper by a mile, his performances this year are down on his previous season which in turn were down on the one before that.

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This?

When is he injured? Except for his car crash like injury from Harewood, he hasn't been injured at all? Crazy talk.

I also think I should mention that Coventry's Westwood is looking like our keeper for the future.

Colin Doyle could be an option too if he can win back the starting place at Birmingham or get a move.

Paul McShane is absolute muck for Hull, how he gets starting the whole time is a mystery.

He's done well for the most part when I've seen him play for them.

I think he played at left back against City, so I'm not going to use that game to judge his ability at all.

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Originally Posted by irishfan86

I think he played at left back against City

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According to the line ups on Sky Sports, this is correct
From what I know of McShane's career, this is possibly the first time he's played left full, certainly in the Premiership.
This also meant he was lining up against Elano and Shaun Wright-Phillips with Dean Marney playing in front of him.
I certainly would not judge his ability on this one game. He's been pretty much ever-present for Hull since joining them on loan, apart from one game when he was injured. Phil Brown doesn't seem to be one to suffer fools gladly, and there's no way he'd let McShane into his squad, never mind his starting XI if he didn't think the lad was able for it.