Ive been following ireland closely since the mid 1990s, and I definitely agree that this is the best group of youngsters we’ve ever had coming through. I remember a poster recently saying on here that this batch may produce up to 10 internationals, which was quickly dampened down by others given the historical examples littered throughout this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
The current batch are different for a number of reasons:
1. They are older, more advanced in their development and playing at a higher level. Kerrs kids were under 16 and under 18, so much can change in those years of development so little surprise so few made it to a reasonable level. We never did anything at under 21 level before and only had 3 to 4 very good to excellent prospects at a time. Many of our current crop: Connolly, Obafemi, Molumby, T O’Connor, Ronan, Elbouzedi, Scales, McNamara, are already playing regular first team football, a few more are dipping their toes and should get more exposure be it on loan or with their parent club in the coming months: Parrott, Kelleher, Travers, N Collins, O’Shea, Idah. And there are many more who need some luck to kick start their senior careers in the near future but I expect a few of them to do so: the Celtic 5, Coventry, Masterson, etc. In addition, several of our talented under 19s and 17s are in the tender stages of development, and some should mature nicely over the next few years.
2. Emerging Talent Program and Ruud Dokter: Difficult to prove causation as always, but the timing certainly fits. And all irish underage teams have a common identity and play the same style fostering development and seamless transition of players as they progress through the age groups depending on their ability.
3. Diverse genetics pool: Never before has Ireland been so diverse with the myriad of immigration that has occurred since the 1990s. We now have a number of players from with African roots (Obafemi, Idah, Afolabi, Armstrong Okoflex, Omobamidele to name but a few) who bring pace and skill not seen before in such abundance in Ireland.
4. Scouting network: It is clear some excellent work is being done recruiting irish eligible players into the underage set up. While we may lose the odd Rice/Grealish with this strategy, we will also gain the odd McGeady/McCarthy as well. It’s certainly making a difference when you look at the players like Joe Hodge.
I do understand the caution however, and I am not someone to get carried away with things. I haven’t factored in here the amount of coverage underage players get these days even in the youth and reserves, something you’d hear very little of back 20 years ago. This may lead us to being bias towards the ability and potential of the new generation, but the arguments above still outweigh this on balance.
I do believe we are heading into a golden generation for irish football, and that I would not be surprised if 10 from the current bunch play at a high level and are regular senior internationals.
