I felt like this recently when I saw the 3 threads near the top of the Ireland forum. It's absolutely brilliant. Here's hoping.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
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I felt like this recently when I saw the 3 threads near the top of the Ireland forum. It's absolutely brilliant. Here's hoping.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bungle
OK, just to temper expectations a little, our U17s and U19s have just got out of their qualifying round groups, which is something they do fairly regularly - getting through an elite round is another matter altogether. Our U21s have yet to face Germany in a group where there will be only one guaranteed qualifier and only the best four second-place teams will go into a play-off. Also successful underage teams haven't always led to a flood of new internationals - for example only two members of the 2011 U19 finals squad have played for the first team (Hendrick and Egan) and only three others (Doherty, Williams and Carruthers) could harbour any realistic hope of appearing in the National Senior Squad in the future.
That said, there is cause for optimism - the U21s have made their best start to a qualifying campaign EVER. Aaron Connolly was the top scorer overall in last year's u17 qualifying campaign with 7, while Adam Idah is top scorer this year so far, having matched Connolly's mark of seven in the qualifying round alone - if the U17s qualify for the second time in a row, that would be an indication of a systematic improvement, rather than just a good run for one group of players. We had a number of young players make first-team breakthroughs last season and it looks like a few more are on the verge this season.
And particularly up front we seem to have a lot of promising youngsters working their way through the English underage system - just for some perspective, IIRC a few years ago we were talking about 5 young strikers we were hoping would make their mark - Drennan, Burke, O'Brien, Maguire and Mason. And although it has taken a little while, it looks like two of those (Maguire and O'Brien) will be squad members when the next qualifying campaign starts. Right now there are about a dozen Irish striking prospects going through the English academy system who are worth keeping an eye on: Grego-Cox, McDonagh, Metz, Afolabi, Hale, McAuley, Obafemi, Parrott, Okoflex (if we keep him), Cassidy, Ayoola, Connolly, Roache, Idah. And while a few of them may not go on to play at senior international level, if even four or five do make it, that could leave us very strong up front in the coming years. Plus there are probably youngsters who have yet to emerge, maybe a couple of young LOI strikers will also make the grade.
So while it will take a few years before we can start talking realistically about a "golden generation", the future is starting to look bright
Agree with Sam, probably important to temper expectations but what I'm liking about the recent results is that we are doing well and beating countries that would traditionally be recognised for having stronger underage systems and domestic leagues than ourselves. Aside from the ground-breaking set-up that Dan McDonnell has identified up North, we have beaten the likes of Ukraine, Belgium, Czech Republic, Serbia and the under 21 got results against Israel and Norway who would have stronger domestic leagues and players playing regularly there. And, not to cast aspersions on our 3G and 2G players, but the success at under 17 and 19 level has been done with very few players of that background which is a strong indication of what is coming through.
Now, it's important to say that a lot of these lads will taper off. I mean, (for varying reasons) Mikey Drennan and Kenny McEvoy aren't playing professional football anymore and a bit of hope would have been pinned on them.
Actually, would I be correct in saying that Molumby and Doyle-Hayes are two of the most technically proficient players we have had that have made their senior debuts at 18? They're emergence bodes well for us too and is tangible at this point as both are very highly-regarded at their clubs clearly.
Full match vs Northern Ireland here
Currently 1-1 vs Wales
2-2 finished Oko-Flex with late equaliser
beat Scotland to win this today. Full match video is on the ifa YouTube I'd say cause they streamed it. Fair play to the ifa for streaming 2 of our games this week hope fai do more of this for underage games.
extraordinary month for the FAI. Junior, senior, men and women.
okoflex played and scored for brits 16 s today
I see Matt Everett at Brighton made his 18s debut and scored under 16 for us this season
http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/irela...ary-friendlies . 16s squad for friendlies. No okoflex this time. Shamrock rovers under 16s must have a savage back 4!
Or Paul Osam isn't arsed going outside Dublin to look for players.Quote:
Originally Posted by liamoo11
Thought Sobowale had signed for Spurs?