2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

https://www.fai.ie/latest/mu19-mohan...ro-qualifiers/

No obvious right back but perhaps devanny will play there and not midfield. Be interesting to see if turkey plays midfield as Tets says he has been playing there for derby but was centre back for our underage sides.

Centre forward looks weak comparative to what we have had melia must be injured.

Razi, doherty, o sullivan and orazi are 4 exciting wide front 3 players .

Turkey, romeo and moloney an interesting midfield 3

uefa.com Under-19
2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship
2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualification
2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualification Qualifying Round Group 7
2025 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualification Elite Round Group 6

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

https://www.fai.ie/latest/mu19-mohan...ro-qualifiers/

No obvious right back but perhaps devanny will play there and not midfield. Be interesting to see if turkey plays midfield as Tets says he has been playing there for derby but was centre back for our underage sides.

Centre forward looks weak comparative to what we have had melia must be injured.

Razi, doherty, o sullivan and orazi are 4 exciting wide front 3 players .

Turkey, romeo and moloney an interesting midfield 3

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They were playing Grante at right-back in the friendlies.

Melia and Shaun Wade are both injured. Anto Dodd might be too... Once again, William Martin a real loss when you have no Mason Melia - Martin would be our starting centre-forward, instead we have a choice of playing Okosun slightly out of position (naturally a left winger but can do a job up top) or Cian Dillon who is ok but a long behind even what Johnny Kenny was at the same age...

Really weird one for me is Danny McGrath, played for Lommel 10 days ago and was on the bench for them at the weekend. Certainly would have thought he was ahead of Daire Patton and Thomas Morley...

If I were guessing:

Gill

Grante Turley Ashbee O'Sullivan

Devaney Romeo

Orazi Ochoa-Moloney Kone-Doherty

Okosun

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Very possible he plays Ochoa-Moloney wide left and Razi in the hole, that was what happened a lot in friendlies but Orazi and Kone-Doherty weren't available. I think Devaney is probably the most natural replacement for McGrath - I don't really see another sitting, passing midfielder, who you'd consider starting. Romeo and Niall McAndrew are both pretty box to box. Pretty convinced they'll play Turley at centre-half and likely Ashbee or if not McCarthy alongside him.

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

They were playing Grante at right-back in the friendlies.

Melia and Shaun Wade are both injured. Anto Dodd might be too... Once again, William Martin a real loss when you have no Mason Melia - Martin would be our starting centre-forward, instead we have a choice of playing Okosun slightly out of position (naturally a left winger but can do a job up top) or Cian Dillon who is ok but a long behind even what Johnny Kenny was at the same age...

Really weird one for me is Danny McGrath, played for Lommel 10 days ago and was on the bench for them at the weekend. Certainly would have thought he was ahead of Daire Patton and Thomas Morley...

If I were guessing:

Gill

Grante Turley Ashbee O'Sullivan

Devaney Romeo

Orazi Ochoa-Moloney Kone-Doherty

Okosun

-
Very possible he plays Ochoa-Moloney wide left and Razi in the hole, that was what happened a lot in friendlies but Orazi and Kone-Doherty weren't available. I think Devaney is probably the most natural replacement for McGrath - I don't really see another sitting, passing midfielder, who you'd consider starting. Romeo and Niall McAndrew are both pretty box to box. Pretty convinced they'll play Turley at centre-half and likely Ashbee or if not McCarthy alongside him.

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Wade seems to have spent most of last 2 seasons injured.

Interesting to see the change in the squad since this group.were in the euro s 18 months ago https://www.fai.ie/latest/u17-euros-...for-u17-euros/ . Murray is injured and meila are injured , maybe mcgtath is as well as seems odd he woud miss out.

Has healy regressed as a keeper?.

First game at 12 will be streamed here, €1 to view
https://ligatv.md/

Anyone watching able to provide any update? Can't seem to get access to the game.

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Originally Posted by yurt

Anyone watching able to provide any update? Can't seem to get access to the game.

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Stream on ligatv.md is working fine for me, have it cast to my TV too
Teams are pretty even. One clear cut chance for Moldova near the end of the first half when a defender was caught in possession by two Moldovans, the second player nipped in, took the ball off him, and passed the ball across the goal. Would have been a tap in.
Surprised that Ochoa Moloney is not starting, he's playing regularly for Malaga at the moment

Iceland beat Azerbaijan in the earlier kick off

A very poor result (0-0). Our position as first seeds has given us a great group on paper, but I would fear again that the players coming through at these age groups are being over-hyped in the era of player trackers and fan pages and are actually quite a bit below the players we had coming through three to five years ago.

Had a last minute penalty saved. Was a good height for the keeper to save.
Played much better in the second half, but couldn't make it count.
Pitch was in terrible condition, which evened things between the teams.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

A very poor result (0-0). Our position as first seeds has given us a great group on paper, but I would fear again that the players coming through at these age groups are being over-hyped in the era of player trackers and fan pages and are actually quite a bit below the players we had coming through three to five years ago.

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Important not to lose first game. Difficult to judge opposition at this age group. Melia obviously a big miss at this age

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

Has healy regressed as a keeper?.

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Presumably just down the pecking order, seeing as the two keepers picked have played a bit of football and Healy is just playing under-20s

Second group game against Azerbaijan kicked off at ten. Currently leading 1-0 with a goal from Okosun

Watched both games now, and even though the results have been decent, will this really help us in the future.

With our senior teams woes in centre midfield, a copy and paste version playing throughout the underage sides won’t help us in the long run.

Morley and Romeo are industrious and will help win games in the short term, but in the long term, players who can turn, manipulate the ball and advance the play are what we need.

The likes of Razi, Ochoa, O’Sullivan and even Patton have those traits, but are shoehorned into wide positions to ensure we’re getting results.

Solid performances all over the pitch in both games and in a great position to qualify though, but, is that enough?

Final game in the group kicked off at 11, Ireland leading 1-0

Azerbaijan leading Moldova 2-0 in the other game in the group

Ireland won 2-1, with the winner coming from Razi, and topped their group ahead of Iceland.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Ireland won 2-1, with the winner coming from Razi, and topped their group ahead of Iceland.

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Good outcome on what looked like difficult pitches

Squad confirmed in a double announcement for the elite rounds: https://www.fai.ie/latest/mens-under...ro-qualifiers/

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Goalkeepers: Oisin Cooney (Finn Harps), Michael Dike (Treaty United).

Defenders: Stan Ashbee (Hull City), Daniel Babb (Ipswich Town), Jacob Devaney (Manchester United), Jake Grante (Crystal Palace), Sean Keogh (Dundalk), Cathal McCarthy (UCD), Cory O’Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers), Freddie Turley (Derby County).

Midfielders: Romeo Akachukwu (Southampton), Matthew Moore (Hoffenheim), Thomas Morley (Sligo Rovers), Aaron Ochoa Moloney (Malaga CF), Naj Razi (Como 1907).

Forwards: Cian Dillon (Queens Park Rangers), Trent Kone Doherty (Liverpool), Michael Noonan (Shamrock Rovers), Nickson Okosun (Watford), Ike Orazi (Stade de Reims).

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Really up against it to qualify, facing Slovenia, Finland, and hosts Germany

https://www.fai.ie/latest/mens-under...ro-qualifiers/

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Ireland Men’s Under-19 Squad

Goalkeepers: Oisin Cooney (Finn Harps), Michael Dike (Treaty United).

Defenders: Stan Ashbee (Hull City), Daniel Babb (Ipswich Town), Jacob Devaney (Manchester United), Jake Grante (Crystal Palace), Sean Keogh (Dundalk), Cathal McCarthy (UCD), Cory O’Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers), Freddie Turley (Derby County).

Midfielders: Romeo Akachukwu (Southampton), Matthew Moore (Hoffenheim), Thomas Morley (Sligo Rovers), Aaron Ochoa Moloney (Malaga CF), Naj Razi (Como 1907).

Forwards: Cian Dillon (Queens Park Rangers), Trent Kone Doherty (Liverpool), Michael Noonan (Shamrock Rovers), Nickson Okosun (Watford), Ike Orazi (Stade de Reims).

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I like the look of this squad. Devaney, Turley, Razi, TKD, Noonan and Orazi - all exciting prospects. Ashbee and Babb too seem to have been coming thru for a while. I’ll defer to the underage experts on here for who/what’s missing!

Missing...

GOALKEEPERS: Marcus Gill was the starting keeper for the first qualifiers, so unusual he's been left out, must be an injury.

DEFENDERS: Wouldn't have been surprised if Kaylem Harnett and Harry McGlinchy made it. Both are u18s still and they didn't make the last squad, so not a massive shock to see them left out either.

MIDFIELDERS: Niall McAndrew has a long term injury. Danny McGrath is starting for Lommel, so must be an injury (didn't make the squad for the last game) - that's a loss. Luke O'Donnell must also be injured - hasn't played for Wolves u18s since the new year. I've always had a soft spot for Anto Dodd. Haven't seen how he's transitioned to senior football at Finn Harps but he would have been another contender in my eyes - I'd probably have picked him ahead of Morley having seen none of either in 2025.

WINGERS: Cathal O'Sullivan is injured, as is Shaun Wade. Luke Kehir might be injured too, in that he missed the last squad for Wexford. I thought Aaron McLaughlin was bright in the friendlies, he's probably just on the outside looking in.

STRIKERS: Mason Melia is with the 21s. William Martin has been playing for Denmark u18s. Really missed them both as options this season for the 19s. Melia is a star at that level, Martin is a very good versatile player. Meanwhile, Michael Noonan is being asked to play two years up and is just 16, so there's a risk there that he'll look ordinary or he'll struggle. Cian Dillon has yet to show his quality for the 19s really - and Okosun is a winger who can play up top as well.

I could be wrong, but I think Anto Dodd is overage for the under-19s this year after turning 19 in February. Has done okay for Harps, but the step up to senior football is a steep learning curve. He's a very small lad in a very phyiscal division.

Aaron McLaughlin has been struggling with injuries, basically all the way through his underage career so far, and hasn't played a lot of football lately.

Dodd was born in February 2006, the tournament is open to anyone born on or after 1st January 2006

Line text updates of the opening game against Finland here: https://www.uefa.com/under19/match/2...ic-of-ireland/
It's a strong looking front six, not sure about the defence

No live stream, but Germany are streaming their game later today, so our game against them will probably be streamed too

Getting hammered by Finland, 3-0 down, 20 mins left.

Doesn't sound like it's going great so far. This year group always had a really strong looking attack, but a very questionable defence if I remember correctly. Unfortunately the attack isn't firing today.

Finished 3-0 and need a miracle now to progress. Reality check for where some of these guys are.

Definitely. I've said it before but the greater publicity and awareness of our underage players in recent years, particularly through hype-merchants running online fan pages, leads to unrealistic notions of how good these emerging players actually are.

The 1999 to 2002 born groups were an exceptional run (by our standards) or producing multiple players each year who were capable of going on to play at a high level professionally in the game. The groups since then have been far more miss than hit, but they still get similar levels of hype to what the1999-2002 born players got at the same ages.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Definitely. I've said it before but the greater publicity and awareness of our underage players in recent years, particularly through hype-merchants running online fan pages, leads to unrealistic notions of how good these emerging players actually are.

The 1999 to 2002 born groups were an exceptional run (by our standards) or producing multiple players each year who were capable of going on to play at a high level professionally in the game. The groups since then have been far more miss than hit, but they still get similar levels of hype to what the1999-2002 born players got at the same ages.

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This group got to the quarter finals of the Euros 2 years ago, they are good side but clearly been poorly coached this year with the results we have seen. Also Melia a big loss for them also.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Definitely. I've said it before but the greater publicity and awareness of our underage players in recent years, particularly through hype-merchants running online fan pages, leads to unrealistic notions of how good these emerging players actually are.

The 1999 to 2002 born groups were an exceptional run (by our standards) or producing multiple players each year who were capable of going on to play at a high level professionally in the game. The groups since then have been far more miss than hit, but they still get similar levels of hype to what the1999-2002 born players got at the same ages.

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Players with irish caps and uncapped call ups with *s and lads who declared after underage football with ^s.


1998

Caoimhin Kelleher
Liam Scales
Jack Taylor
Connor Ronan*
Danny Mandriou*

1999

Dara O’Shea
Jayson Molumby
Mark Travers
Mikey Johnston^

2000

Will Smallbone
Michael Obafemi
Aaron Connolly
Finn Azaz
Lee O’Connor
Conor Coventry*
David Harrington*

2001

Nathan Collins
Jake O’Brien
Adam Idah
Jason Knight
Mark McGuinness
Kasey McAteer^
Luca Connell*

2002

Troy Parrott
Gavin Bazunu
Festy Ebosele
Tom Cannon
Andrew Omobamadele

2003

Andy Moran
Sinclair Armstrong
Bosun Lawal*
Josh Keeley*

2004

Evan Ferguson
James Abankwah*

2005

Rocco Vata*

Honestly I think 2004 is a down year in terms of depth but getting Evan Ferguson alone is huge. Maybe Alex Murphy makes it or Jack Moorhaus - and in terms of depth names - for every 10 or 15, you pull one like Jake O’Brien really defies expectations and with that year I don’t really see the quantity of those guys compared to other years - there’s maybe 10 guys where other years like 2000 or 2001 you could have had 30 - for every Jake O’Brien or Eiran Cashin, there was a tonne of guys like Rowan Roche or a Glen McAuley or whoever who you didn’t expect to pan out but if everything went right, they might.

But I think it gets better again in 2005. 2006 I think has good quality too (Kone Doherty, Romeo, Turley, Corey, McGrath - maybe Okosun, Grante) but less depth. The 19s squads have already featured a lot of 2007 kids (Melia, Orazi, Ochoa Moloney, McAndrew, Moore, Devaney, Gill, Cathal O’Sullivan), which probably speaks to the lack of quality depth in that year

You could pick a very competent Ireland senior team and subs from the 2000, 2001 and 2002 groups combined. An incredible run, 01 and 02 in particular were exceptional.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Definitely. I've said it before but the greater publicity and awareness of our underage players in recent years, particularly through hype-merchants running online fan pages, leads to unrealistic notions of how good these emerging players actually are.

The 1999 to 2002 born groups were an exceptional run (by our standards) or producing multiple players each year who were capable of going on to play at a high level professionally in the game. The groups since then have been far more miss than hit, but they still get similar levels of hype to what the1999-2002 born players got at the same ages.

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Thre's a degree of truth to this. There does seem to be a sense that the ability graph of our underage players is a constant rather than fluctuating, which is ridiculous of course.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

Players with irish caps and uncapped call ups with *s and lads who declared after underage football with ^s.


1998

Caoimhin Kelleher
Liam Scales
Jack Taylor
Connor Ronan*
Danny Mandriou*

1999

Dara O’Shea
Jayson Molumby
Mark Travers
Mikey Johnston^

2000

Will Smallbone
Michael Obafemi
Aaron Connolly
Finn Azaz
Lee O’Connor
Conor Coventry*
David Harrington*

2001

Nathan Collins
Jake O’Brien
Adam Idah
Jason Knight
Mark McGuinness
Kasey McAteer^
Luca Connell*

2002

Troy Parrott
Gavin Bazunu
Festy Ebosele
Tom Cannon
Andrew Omobamadele

2003

Andy Moran
Sinclair Armstrong
Bosun Lawal*
Josh Keeley*

2004

Evan Ferguson
James Abankwah*

2005

Rocco Vata*

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Sort of interesting that (at the moment) there's more capped forward players born this century(7) than midfield players(6). I think that indicates that there was more midfield players born before January 2000 who could play at international level than forward players.

If Vata makes his debut in these two games, it'll be the same amount for midfielders and forwards.

FWIW the game with the most players born after 1st January 2000 in the starting XI is the 3-0 win against Gibraltar in June 2023, with six.- Gavin Bazunu(20-02-2002), Will Smallbone(21-02-2000), Michael Obafemi(06-07-2000), Nathan Collins(30-04-2001), Jason Knight(13-02-2001), Evan Ferguson(19-10-2004)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Sort of interesting that (at the moment) there's more capped forward players born this century(7) than midfield players(6). I think that indicates that there was more midfield players born before January 2000 who could play at international level than forward players.

If Vata makes his debut in these two games, it'll be the same amount for midfielders and forwards.

FWIW the game with the most players born after 1st January 2000 in the starting XI is the 3-0 win against Gibraltar in June 2023, with six.- Gavin Bazunu(20-02-2002), Will Smallbone(21-02-2000), Michael Obafemi(06-07-2000), Nathan Collins(30-04-2001), Jason Knight(13-02-2001), Evan Ferguson(19-10-2004)

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Vata is a forward, never a midfielder. Winger at best.

Second game of the elite round against Slovenia kicking off at ten. They lost 2-0 to Germany in their opener, so need a win to stay in the competition
Line up announced, text updates available here
https://www.uefa.com/under19/match/2...d-vs-slovenia/

1-0 down after half an hour. Zero attempts on goal so far.

Dillon equalised with a penalty right on half time

Finished 1-1 and they're out, though it was always a long shot after the first game anyway.

final group game V Germany just kicked off
Live text here: https://www.uefa.com/under19/match/2...nd-vs-germany/
There's a stream on DFB Play here, you will need to register, but it's free to use the site: https://www.dfbplay.tv/

Finished 1-0 to Germany. Ireland finish bottom of the group with one point
The game was added to YouTube, Ireland actually played some good football. Orazi was really good when he came on, and set up Turley for a chance that came off the post.
Trent Kone Doherty only played the last few minutes, which seemed strange to me.