Celtic Cup fixtures available

Wales up first. Nicely spaced out for us with maximum rest and with Scotland last.

Northern Ireland on a Monday night to keep as many of the idiots on both sides away as possible.

http://www.ireland.com/news/ireland-...t-wales/515805

Ireland to open Nations Cup against Wales
Irish Times

Soccer: The Republic of Ireland will meet Wales in the opening game of the Nations Cup early next year. The four-team competition, which will be staged entirely at the Aviva Stadium, will start in February with Northern Ireland and Scotland also taking part.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s side open proceedings against the Welsh on Tuesday, February 9th with Northern Ireland and Scotland clashing a day later.

There is then a three-month break before the tournament resumes in May, with Ireland’s first clash with Northern Ireland since 1999 getting things back underway.

Trapattoni said: “The Carling Nations Cup is a tournament that we would very much like to win, particularly playing at home in Dublin. The matches will provide us with a good opportunity to see our players in games with a real competitive edge at an important time in our bid to qualify for 2012.”

Northern Ireland boss Nigel Worthington is another relishing the tournament. He said: “I am really looking forward to the Carling Nations Cup, as competitive games against our neighbouring countries don’t come around too often.

“There are bragging rights at stake here, not only for the fans but also for the players as no-one will want to lose against their closest rivals. Northern Ireland are more than capable of winning this tournament and we hope to get off to a good start against Scotland in February.”

Scotland boss Craig Levein added: “Now that the schedule has been announced we are really looking forward to our visit to Dublin next year. This exciting new competition brings together four groups of passionate fans and also allows me to test my squad, in a competitive environment, in the middle of our Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.”

Nations Cup fixtures

February 8th
Republic of Ireland v Wales

February 9th
Northern Ireland v Scotland

May 23rd
Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland

May 24th
Wales v Scotland

May 26th
Wales v Northern Ireland

May 27th
Republic of Ireland v Scotland

Does the FAI season ticket cover all the games, or just the Republic of Ireland games?

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Originally Posted by DeNiro

Does the FAI season ticket cover all the games, or just the Republic of Ireland games?

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just our 3 games.

Not that there's a rush on for accommodation around LR at this early stage, but I wonder is the first game on 8th February, as stated in the fixture list at the bottom of the press release, or 9th as stated in the 2nd paragraph?

I hate ambiguous press statements, couldn't somebody have checked it before it went out?

It's a misprint in the text - the 8th is a Tuesday.

Playing Northern Ireland on my birthday. Nice.

I was just wondering, will games in this tournament count towards the FIFA rankings?

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

I was just wondering, will games in this tournament count towards the FIFA rankings?

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Of course they will. Friendlies count ffs!

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Originally Posted by Colbert Report

Of course they will. Friendlies count ffs!

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Steady on. Just double-checking seeing as it's not a FIFA/UEFA-organised tournament. :P

Regardless I hope we intend to field a B side for these games. Focus needs to be firmly on beating Macedonia home and away.

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Originally Posted by DannyInvincible

Steady on. Just double-checking seeing as it's not a FIFA/UEFA-organised tournament. :P

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I don't think it's even possible to arrange a friendly international without FIFA's say-so. There was that issue over the fake Togo team in Bahrain a while back. Plus the matches are taking place during the international window so I don't see why it wouldn't count. Of course we're ranked ahead of all the sides so we stand to lose more than we'd gain points-wise.

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Originally Posted by ifk101

Regardless I hope we intend to field a B side for these games. Focus needs to be firmly on beating Macedonia home and away.

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You're completely right - Macedonia results of far greater importance.

I think Norn Iron would love to put one over on us, though. Pride at stake on that one.

Depends how you define a 'b-team'. With our current options there is plenty of opportunity to field a side with plenty of new options (McCarthy, Coleman, Wilson etc) without risking more important, established players but I'd still want a strong team out. A mix of experience and enthusiasm is perfectly attainable. Plus if Keane/Given don't get moves in January they'll need game time.

I was thinking a B selection along the lines of;

Goalies;
Westwood, Murphy X2

Defenders;
Foley, Kelly, O'Dea, Wilson, Nolan, Clark, Ward, Cunningham

Midfielders;
Coleman, Walters, McCarthy, Garvan, Gibson, Meyler, Treacy, Hunt,

Strikers;
Stokes, Long, Keogh, Sheridan.

It wouldn't be that weak of a team we'd be fielding and it'd give players on the fringes some needed game time.

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Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton

Depends how you define a 'b-team'. With our current options there is plenty of opportunity to field a side with plenty of new options (McCarthy, Coleman, Wilson etc) without risking more important, established players but I'd still want a strong team out. A mix of experience and enthusiasm is perfectly attainable. Plus if Keane/Given don't get moves in January they'll need game time.

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That's what I'd be looking for too. Great opportunity for players not currently in the established XI but politely knocking on the door; Coleman, McCarthy (if he's fit), Clark etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ifk101

I was thinking a B selection along the lines of;

Goalies;
Westwood, Murphy X2

Defenders;
Foley, Kelly, O'Dea, Wilson, Nolan, Clark, Ward, Cunningham

Midfielders;
Coleman, Walters, McCarthy, Garvan, Gibson, Meyler, Treacy, Hunt,

Strikers;
Stokes, Long, Keogh, Sheridan.

It wouldn't be that weak of a team we'd be fielding and it'd give players on the fringes some needed game time.

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I'd probably want a slightly stronger spine. Maybe include Keane, Whelan/Andrews (for game time/to gain form) and O'Shea (as an experienced head at the back). Would certainly be an exciting young team either way.

Personally given the parlous economic situation, maybe the FAI would be better abandoning the whole potential fiasco!

And play an away friendly instead....

Given that this is the first one ticket prices will be very important. Half empty stadiums would be a disaster. Anything more than €30 for our games and €20 for the games without us will cause serious problems

€40 minimum, currently.

'Recession, what recession ?'.

The whole thing is a cheap effort of a tournament, ill-thought out & ill-conceived, featuring 4 pretty mediocre teams.
Personally hope it's an unmitigated failure....You can have my set of tickets for €100, but guessing there won't be many takers.

Hopefully a less than half full Lansdowne for Ireland v Samoa in the rugby tomorrow will convince the powers that be to think again. All the money for this competition is in TV, and for it to have credibility on the box a full stadium is a must.

There's a lot of money in gates too if you price the tickets right - especially in Ireland as high attendances have kept the associations going for the past few years.