Republic of Ireland V Northern Ireland - Thursday, 15th November 2018 - Friendly

I watched a cracking Sheffield derby last night. Congrats on escaping with a draw Owls fan!

McGoldrick, despite missing an early penalty, was simply superb I thought. Great awareness, athleticism and a silky smooth touch. Very much a more agile and powerful Wes in the role he played.
Stevens was brilliant too. He owned that touchline and is far more assured and confident in that position than McLean. Way more subtle too and he actually had a great understanding with McGoldrick. Lots of gives and gos, decoy runs and great movement inside and out. The dogs on the street can see he's better than McLean in that role and easily above Ward too.

Egan did fine but didn't have much to do. A bit of shirt pulling in each box that he might need to be careful of.

Ollie Norwood, who we'll be against on Thursday, was very good. One crossfield pass in the first half was simply delicious!

O'Neill and McGoldrick need to cop the **** on and get things sorted. McGoldrick just owned the space between the centre circle and the penalty box. He came deep to develop play with great effect. He went off on about 75 to make way for the more muscular Leon Clarke and United's play deteriorated as a result.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Ollie Norwood, who we'll be against on Thursday, was very good. One crossfield pass in the first half was simply delicious!

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He's suspended for the Austria game so left out of our squad.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I watched a cracking Sheffield derby last night. Congrats on escaping with a draw Owls fan!

McGoldrick, despite missing an early penalty, was simply superb I thought. Great awareness, athleticism and a silky smooth touch. Very much a more agile and powerful Wes in the role he played.
Stevens was brilliant too. He owned that touchline and is far more assured and confident in that position than McLean. Way more subtle too and he actually had a great understanding with McGoldrick. Lots of gives and gos, decoy runs and great movement inside and out. The dogs on the street can see he's better than McLean in that role and easily above Ward too.

Egan did fine but didn't have much to do. A bit of shirt pulling in each box that he might need to be careful of.

Ollie Norwood, who we'll be against on Thursday, was very good. One crossfield pass in the first half was simply delicious!

O'Neill and McGoldrick need to cop the **** on and get things sorted. McGoldrick just owned the space between the centre circle and the penalty box. He came deep to develop play with great effect. He went off on about 75 to make way for the more muscular Leon Clarke and United's play deteriorated as a result.

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Maybe McGoldrick doesn’t want to play for us anymore .

Shane Long ruled out, going in for surgery

Obafemi to start?

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Obafemi to start?

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I would definitely start him against the north . Maguire and Hogan have been awful poor so far in their very limited senior Irish careers so cant have any complaints. O brien has been far more impressive than either of them but hasn't played much in the last month. Robinson has clearly been having a fantastic season so far for club and country. Doubt Curtis will make the final cut but clearly had had super season.

Renamed thread for the friendly, will spin any discussion on the Denmark game following it into its own thread

Ringmahon coach reveals Liverpool keeper Kelleher started up front as the team's top scorer

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CAOIMHÍN Kelleher was making his name as talented, goalscoring striker when the opportunity he truly craved finally arrived.

In the days leading up to an important fixture in Ringmahon Rangers’ bid to avoid relegation from the Cork Schoolboys League U14 Premier Division, manager Eddie Harrington was dealt a blow as his first choice goalkeeper decided to quit.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Renamed thread for the friendly, will spin any discussion on the Denmark game following it into its own thread

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My bad, not only did I **** of Del with the team names back to front, I ignored the Northern Ireland game. I've lost foot.ie points.

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Obafemi to start?

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

I would definitely start him against the north . Maguire and Hogan have been awful poor so far in their very limited senior Irish careers so cant have any complaints. O brien has been far more impressive than either of them but hasn't played much in the last month. Robinson has clearly been having a fantastic season so far for club and country. Doubt Curtis will make the final cut but clearly had had super season.

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Limited is an understatement - 90 minutes for Hogan, 99 for Maguire - I wouldn't omit them based on not being great in that time. Surely the most natural pairing up front, now that Long is injured, would be Robinson and Maguire - Robinson is our form striker (low bar at the moment, admittedly) and has impressed in his four caps, while Maguire has been scoring regularly for Preston when not injured, plus he'd have a clubmate alongside him this time out.

As regards Obafemi, first MON needs to check that he doesn't need to "consider his options" - if he's ready to commit, then perhaps give him 15-20 minutes against the North and maybe a few minutes at the end of the Denmark game, to put eligibility issues to bed but, more importantly, to give him a taste of competitive senior international football, so that he won't be completely wet behind the ears if he continues to get EPL games between now and March. I think the timelines are too tight to be considering him as a starter for the qualifiers proper so we should be thinking of using him off the bench, unless he goes on a scoring spree for Southampton between now and then

Sidenote - MON should also be following Aaron Connolly's progress closely and let him know that he's ready to promote him to the first team if he breaks into the Brighton first team - as part of this he should be in touch with Hughton regarding his plans for Connolly

Maguire looked like he had something about him when he came off the bench in October.

Will the squad convene tomorrow in Dublin?

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Originally Posted by samhaydenjr

Limited is an understatement - 90 minutes for Hogan, 99 for Maguire - I wouldn't omit them based on not being great in that time. Surely the most natural pairing up front, now that Long is injured, would be Robinson and Maguire - Robinson is our form striker (low bar at the moment, admittedly) and has impressed in his four caps, while Maguire has been scoring regularly for Preston when not injured, plus he'd have a clubmate alongside him this time out.

As regards Obafemi, first MON needs to check that he doesn't need to "consider his options" - if he's ready to commit, then perhaps give him 15-20 minutes against the North and maybe a few minutes at the end of the Denmark game, to put eligibility issues to bed but, more importantly, to give him a taste of competitive senior international football, so that he won't be completely wet behind the ears if he continues to get EPL games between now and March. I think the timelines are too tight to be considering him as a starter for the qualifiers proper so we should be thinking of using him off the bench, unless he goes on a scoring spree for Southampton between now and then

Sidenote - MON should also be following Aaron Connolly's progress closely and let him know that he's ready to promote him to the first team if he breaks into the Brighton first team - as part of this he should be in touch with Hughton regarding his plans for Connolly

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Respectfully I disagree. What are friendlies for but giving youngsters a chance. I'd give him a start and at least 60 minutes against the north. If he does well he hangs on the the shirt for Denmark, but either way I'd be getting him on at some stage and tied down to us.

Shane long and Derrick Williams out due to injury, Lee O'Connor called up for training

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Obafemi to start?

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Let him come off the bench to run at tired NI defenders, it will give him confidence and then bring him to Denmark

Not sure if it's been pointed out in the thread yet - Thursday's game is five years, to the day, since Martin O'Neill's first game in charge
Match thread: https://foot.ie/threads/184729-Repub...2013-Friendly/
Highlights

The most interesting aspect of this fixture for me was the potential chance of seeing a new striker in action.

Now? I'll still watch it but I'd put it at about the same level as the recent USA friendly. Ok it's Northern Ireland but really... so what?

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Originally Posted by zero

The most interesting aspect of this fixture for me was the potential chance of seeing a new striker in action.

Now? I'll still watch it but I'd put it at about the same level as the recent USA friendly. Ok it's Northern Ireland but really... so what?

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I think it's bigger than that, it has to be Guinness book of Record material. M O'Neill v M O'Neill, almost a bizarre republican nom de guerre conflict.

Lining up 3-4-3 according to sky sports.
McClean. Up front. Against the North.
That'll end well.