Sheffield Wednesday duo - Glenn Whelan and Joey O'Brien

Just to give you 24 hour notice so you can cancel your night out, Sheffield Wednesday play Port Vale tomorrow (Friday) night on Sky Sports 1 at 7.45. :)

Ireland U-21 midfielder, and IMO the most likely replacement for Keane in the holding role, Glenn Whelan (just turned 21 last week) is likely to start as is 18 year old Joey O'Brien, on loan from Bolton. Since O'Brien joined them at the start of December, he and Whelan have started in the centre of midfield in all 9 of Wednesday's games. Whelan controls the pace, ala Keane, while O'Brien rips from box to box (I could be wrong but thats what I assume from reading reports). They are unbeaten in their last 7 games (5 wins and 2 draws) btw.

I honestly haven't been looking forward to a match like this in ages. Two of Ireland's best prospects partnering each other in midfield for a team on the up. Both players are fit. :)

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I honestly haven't been looking forward to a match like this in ages. Two of Ireland's best prospects partnering each other in midfield for a team on the up. Both players are fit. :)

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i hope thats not a gay reference :p

nah, sure let us know how they get on. bit early to say whelan will replace keane tho, we have all seen players go off the rails or even players staking claims later in their careers

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Just to give you 24 hour notice so you can cancel your night out, Sheffield Wednesday play Port Vale tomorrow (Friday) night on Sky Sports 1 at 7.45. :)

Ireland U-21 midfielder, and IMO the most likely replacement for Keane in the holding role, Glenn Whelan (just turned 21 last week) is likely to start as is 18 year old Joey O'Brien, on loan from Bolton. Since O'Brien joined them at the start of December, he and Whelan have started in the centre of midfield in all 9 of Wednesday's games. Whelan controls the pace, ala Keane, while O'Brien rips from box to box (I could be wrong but thats what I assume from reading reports). They are unbeaten in their last 7 games (5 wins and 2 draws) btw.

I honestly haven't been looking forward to a match like this in ages. Two of Ireland's best prospects partnering each other in midfield for a team on the up. Both players are fit. :)

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so did Man City release Whelan for the same reason as Elliot?

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Originally Posted by SaucyJack

so did Man City release Whelan for the same reason as Elliot?

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Elliott wasn't released. I think Whelan was just given a free to Wednesday as he wanted to move and the club let him go, not sure though.

If I remember correctly Keegan offered him a new contract, but Whelan wanted a commitment from Keegan of first team football, which Keegan wouldn't give. So he moved on...

Dont want thos to sound like sour grapes but Iv looked at reports on websites about Whelan and O Brien and that have been doing well without being fantastic.
Apparently O Brien had a great game for them (game before last)
However with this being O Briens for spell of senior football at 18 he still has great potential but Whelen is 21 now and playing 'OK' in division two so Im not so sure about him

Anyways Ill be tuning in myself hoping these lads really do the business and thus cure my scepticism :D

I think both players have fantastic potential. When they teamed up together Wednesday were in mid-table going nowhere. Now they are placed third in the table and are absolutely flying. Sturrock who got so much criticism at Southampton has really got things going again for a once great club. They still get gates of over 25,000.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Elliott wasn't released. I think Whelan was just given a free to Wednesday as he wanted to move and the club let him go, not sure though.

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Yeah, that's pretty much it. He was out of contract, hadn't played in the league at all (as far as I remember it was only cup games, and he sat on the bench for a UEFA Cup first round game but didn't come on) and couldn't get into the first team picture at all. Pity, with the injuries the way they are at the minute he'd be battling with Joey Barton for that holding midfield spot. Less has been made of him moving on than Elliott because he's had less of an impact, and at a lower level.

I do believe that Joey O Brien is on loan from Bolton, where he is highly regarded by Sam Allardyce, also is it not popular among premiership managers to loan out young players, they feel may have a bright future ? heres hoping he impresses Big Sam whilst at Sheffield Wednesday and can develop into a premiership regular ! !

I really think Whelan could be another McPhail, I just don't think he's capable of playing at the highest level though he does have ability. We shall see, I suppose.

Glad to see the owls get a mention, Weve been out in the cold too long.Whelan has been great for us this season,We realy lacked midfield last year, and now weve got the two irish lads controlling it for us at 21 and 18.Joey looks the better talent but whelo does the business quietly.

heres links to their profiles:

http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Profiles/0,,10304~19533,00.html

http://www.swfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Profiles/0,,10304~31643,00.html

I was actually at Wednesday's last game against bournemouth and neither of of the two players where that impressive. Best Irish player was Shaun Maher who got MOTM

I'm nearly certain that the people with doubts over Whelan haven't seen him play, especially this one:

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Originally Posted by AmenToThat

Dont want thos to sound like sour grapes but Iv looked at reports on websites about Whelan and O Brien and that have been doing well without being fantastic.
Apparently O Brien had a great game for them (game before last)
However with this being O Briens for spell of senior football at 18 he still has great potential but Whelen is 21 now and playing 'OK' in division two so Im not so sure about him

Anyways Ill be tuning in myself hoping these lads really do the business and thus cure my scepticism

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If you never saw, lets say Makelele play before and were just reading reports you'd also be posting something similar to the above. When I say a replacement for Roy I don't mean someone who will be ripping from box to box doing everything a footballer can possibly do in one match. What I mean is a replacement for Roy in the holding role (which he now plays in his old age) as we're really lacking in them with Carsley, Kinsella and Holland all retired or getting old aswell as Kav who Kerr likes to play in that role.

You can't compare him to McPhail. McPhail was noticed because of his flair, etc. Whelan is a future leader and only for Kelly would be captain of the U-21's. Players may not live up to potential but there's no potential in things like determination and work rate.

I've only seen him play twice so (as I've said a couple of times :) ) I'm looking forward to 7.45. :)

BTW livehead1 - I might actually be gay. ;)

Thank God for SKY+. My missus would have problems with me spending Friday night watching Div 2 footy at home. I think she's lost count of the number of times I say "but there's a youing Irish kid playing for..."

"He makes up a fair bit of ground, doesn't he"

Its half time, thats what the commentator said about Whelan just before half time. He's doing well, put in a couple of crunching tackles and his passing has been short need and tidy. Also got himself in the box a few times. I haven't seen much of O'Brien mainly because its hard to make out who's who, the game is scrappy so their not getting time on the ball and the commentator only seems to be mentioning the names of the wingers and strikers. The co-commentator, an ex-Wednesday player (I didn't catch who it was), doesn't seem to know a lot of the players names. When the commentator said whats in the quote above the co-commentator said: "you have to". Has he even watch Wednesday this season, no mention of how Whelan has been performing. Wish it was Kamara in the commentator's box.:)

I think it was Whelan's pass for the only goal but it doesn't matter who's it was, the goal was just top quality from 35 yards out. Disappointing match overall, hopefully it picks up in the second half.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I'm nearly certain that the people with doubts over Whelan haven't seen him play, especially this one:

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I've seen him play plenty of times for the U20s, the U21s and today for Wednesday. Imo he wont make it as an international class player and will always float around the lower leagues, though probably will be in the first division rather than the second division. Just my opinion, I've nothing against the lad and if he proves me wrong I'll be delighted.

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

I've seen him play plenty of times for the U20s, the U21s and today for Wednesday.

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Do you travel to the likes of Galway and Kilkenny to watch the U-21's? Fair play, I've actually never been to an underage match.

Anyway, both players had fairly decent games. They're exactly how I said they were in the opening post but Whelan attacks a bit more than I thought, loves the odd long shot. They did nothing outstanding but did the jobs asked of central midfielders and I wouldn't judge player on such a scrappy match as tonight. Anyway, they certainly look the real deal. I was impressed mostly with Whelan's tackling and work rate. Fair play to Wednesday, 2 draws and 6 wins from the last 8.

A holding midfielder at the age of 20 (I know he's just recently turned 21 but has been playing first team football a year now) is extremely rare and I'd say there'll be a few managers keeping tabs on Whelan. Hopefully O'Brien's loan is extended to the end of the season, he looks a great prospect too.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I'm nearly certain that the people with doubts over Whelan haven't seen him play, especially this one:

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Iv no axe the grind with either player and was just telling you people what I had seen posted about them on message boards and in game reviews.
From what I saw of the game tonight I dont think I was to far off the mark to be honest. I know they are both young (in particular with O Brien getting his first spell of first team football) but it has to be said that was 3 Division football tonight and neither of them was able to take hold of the game unfortunately.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Do you travel to the likes of Galway and Kilkenny to watch the U-21's? Fair play, I've actually never been to an underage match.

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Well I've only seen him live for the U21s once, I don't go regularly to under age games (Only a couple in a long while) but there's also been games shown on Sky and the U20 world cup too. Sky do seem to be showing our U21s less now than before though, or is that my imagination?

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Originally Posted by Slash/ED

Sky do seem to be showing our U21s less now than before though, or is that my imagination?

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I've only known them to show one, the Scotland match, as it would attract a decent audience. Whelan set up 2 of the goals in that match and also threaded a lovely through ball to Daryl Murphy before the end but he hit it over from 6 yards.

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Originally Posted by AmenToThat

Iv no axe the grind with either player and was just telling you people what I had seen posted about them on message boards and in game reviews.
From what I saw of the game tonight I dont think I was to far off the mark to be honest. I know they are both young (in particular with O Brien getting his first spell of first team football) but it has to be said that was 3 Division football tonight and neither of them was able to take hold of the game unfortunately.

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Well it was 2nd division football and nobody on the pitch was able to take hold of the game.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I've only known them to show one, the Scotland match, as it would attract a decent audience. Whelan set up 2 of the goals in that match and also threaded a lovely through ball to Daryl Murphy before the end but he hit it over from 6 yards.

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I've seen plenty of U21 matches on Sky, two of them against Scotland alright. They've shown plenty before though, for a while they were constantly showing them but it seems less now. I can't think of the opponents now though for the life me but they've shown a good few.

Whelan's 10 U-21 caps have came in Ireland's last 10 games and made his debut in October 2003. He has played in just 3 home games (Galway, Kilkenny, Drogheda) and one televised game. I don't know about Sky showing U-21 games in general though. :)

Yeah the one V Scotland was televised, that was the one in Galway right? I'm sure that there was a time when Sky showed nearly every game, around the WC02 or Euro04 qualifiers, back when the likes of Andy Reid was playing at that level it was on constantly. I wonder why they cut back.

They showed the Holland U-21 game as well did they not, twas in Waterford me thinks

There was another one that was in Kilkenny

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Originally Posted by Maribor

They showed the Holland U-21 game as well did they not, twas in Waterford me thinks

There was another one that was in Kilkenny

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The Kilkenny one v portugal (i think) was televised - the Waterford game v Holland wasn't. Richie Sadler put in an amazing performance against Holland that night as did Graham Barrett. John O Shea was muck. Cant remember Andy Reid though.

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Originally Posted by eirebhoy

I think it was Whelan's pass for the only goal but it doesn't matter who's it was, the goal was just top quality from 35 yards out.

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It was actually O'Brien's first time pass, but to call it an assist would be generous, the goal was all down to the great finish.

Only saw bits of the game as it was total crap but one thing I noticed about O'Brien is that he's tall and athletic looking which makes a change from the usual 5 foot wonders we seem to specialise in!

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Originally Posted by blobbyblob

The Kilkenny one v portugal (i think) was televised - the Waterford game v Holland wasn't. Richie Sadler put in an amazing performance against Holland that night as did Graham Barrett.

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The Holland game was on Sky alright.
Remember the pub I was watching it in and everything.
Barrett played a stormer!
Think Dan O'Connor was in goal.

Whelan beat Stephen Elliott to the U-21 award last night.