2019 UEFA European Under 19 Championship

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Squad finally named:

Republic of Ireland Under-19 Squad
Goalkeepers: Brian Maher (St Patrick's Athletic), George McMahon (Burnley)
Defenders: Andy Lyons (Bohemians), Mark McGuinness (Arsenal), Oisin McEntee (Newcastle United), Andrew Omobamidele (Norwich City), Jack James (Unattached), Kameron Ledwidge (Southampton), Ciaran Brennan (Sheffield Wednesday)
Midfielders: Joe Hodge (Manchester City), Lee O'Connor (Manchester United), Barry Coffey (Celtic), Niall Morahan (Sligo Rovers), Brandon Kavanagh (Shamrock Rovers), Conor Grant (Sheffield Wednesday)
Forwards: Jonathan Afolabi (Unattached), Ali Reghba (Leicester City), Tyreik Wright (Aston Villa), Matt Everitt (Brighton & Hove Albion), Festy Ebosele (Derby County)

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Very surprised ferry from Southampton isn't in didn't think he was in that Southampton first team squad.

Great to see hodge there you would imagine at least 2 of hodge, morahan and Coffey would play each game as a 6 and 8 with kavanagh or grant been the possible attacking 10 in the 3 man midfield .

If we play 433 as we have been you wood be looking at Wright, ebosele, everitt, grant and kavanagh as all competing for the 2 wide spots in the front 3 so hard to see o connor been pushed into one of those positions although he did play wide right of a front 3 in the 19s qualifiers in his first year at 19s.

4 centre halves, 2 left fulls one of whom in ledwidge plays centre half as well and 2 right fulls if u iinude o connor who obviously also plays centre half and left full seems a bit defender heavy. I would have left one of brennan or omobamidele out for another front option like McCauley or Cassidy. Is Cassidy with Watford first team?

I can't imagine that Ferry was left out for no good reason though. And he was in the training squad. Wasn't he fairly integral in the qualifiers?

I haven't seen much of Brennan but Omobamidele is an absolutely awesome prospect.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Some amount of absentees

Parrott
Obafemi
Connolly
Collins
Coventry
Idah
Connell
Knight
Cassidy
O'Reilly
Bolger
Smallbone

If we can do anything at this tournament with those 12 missing we must have some depth of talent coming through.

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With gavin kilkenny away with Bournemouth s first team I guess he can be added to that list. Also McCauley is deserving of a spot on that list . Obviously johanson is also a loss as he is cup tied but is eligible for our 19s next season.

10 of the squad picked are eligible next season as are 6 of eiramblers list above and then Johannson as well

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Originally Posted by Olé Olé

I can't imagine that Ferry was left out for no good reason though. And he was in the training squad. Wasn't he fairly integral in the qualifiers?

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Yeah played alot in qualifiers be great if he is that close to first team matters at Southampton looks really silky and small!

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Originally Posted by Olé Olé

I can't imagine that Ferry was left out for no good reason though. And he was in the training squad. Wasn't he fairly integral in the qualifiers?

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Yes it's no criticism of either just from an overall squad make up and options another attacking option might have been nice

Must be close to first team. Can't think of another reason.

He has a squad number.

McAuley is an interesting one. Has no club to withdraw him so is presumably left out on merit despite all the dropouts (unless he's the injured player). Would suggest he's not considered to be one of our best nine strikers at Under 19 level.

Also no word of any new club or any trials since he left Liverpool. I wonder if we'll maybe see him back in Ireland before the end of the LOI season? Quite a fall in a short space of time for someone who was so highly regarded, though there seems to have been some suggestion of an attitude issue.

Who was the one injured player they referred to? Maybe that's Ferry. Pretty sure he hasn't been withdrawn by his club as there was reporting of Smallbone, so it would have been Smallbone and Ferry. Could be Tom Gaston as well. Rate him really highly, just a wonderful composed and skilful defender, either on the right or in the centre. Very surprised he's not in.


Stevie G spoke really highly of Glen's attitude (u18s) as did Neil Critchley (u23s). Don't think that was the issue. Could be there was an issue with him and the u19 coaching staff. Purely speculating. But genuinely, he's ahead of everyone up front except for Afolabi and Reghba. Could really use either McAuley or Cassidy as a second out and out 9. Would allow Regbha to play out wide as well as up top. Heard from a Rovers fan about a month ago that he was training with the club, but was just idle chat, the chap said that both Afolabi and McAuley were training there. Wouldn’t treat it as gospel by any means…


The midfield is really where we're most problematic, hopefully Hodge will make the step up - i think he'll be able to given how good he was for the 17s. Nonetheless, the difference right now between Connell, Bolger, Coventry and Knight vs say Coffey or Morahan is an absolute chasm. No criticism meant towards the latter but the first four are big big players at 19s level.

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Originally Posted by liamoo11

Yeah in fairness I thought everitt even seemed physically light at 17 level. Mceneff and Flynn are injured. Kayode is with rotherham s first team and scored at weekend. Will rovers block kavanagh from going?

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Bit late as he's obviously in the squad, but Rovers couldn't have blocked Kavanagh from going. It's only the foreign clubs who can block players going.

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

McAuley is an interesting one. Has no club to withdraw him so is presumably left out on merit despite all the dropouts (unless he's the injured player). Would suggest he's not considered to be one of our best nine strikers at Under 19 level.

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Or could be opting out if he's trialing for teams?

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

Heard from a Rovers fan about a month ago that he was training with the club, but was just idle chat, the chap said that both Afolabi and McAuley were training there. Wouldn’t treat it as gospel by any means…

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Afolabi was training but it was only to keep fit. Didn't hear anything about McAuley but could easily have been.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Bit late as he's obviously in the squad, but Rovers couldn't have blocked Kavanagh from going. It's only the foreign clubs who can block players going.

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Why is that Charles? England were in it last year and they ended up with lots of lads not been available

Tournament kicks off with Armenia v Spain at 3:45pm. Will be streamed on the UEFA website.

Could be a tough tournament for Armenia, qualified as hosts so no suggestion that they're any good and up against Portugal, Italy and Spain in their group.

https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/irel...the-2019-squad

Player profiles. Don't think I got to the bottom of McGuiness' eligibility. His father is McGuinness from Derry. That can only mean a combatant presence!

More worrying to read that Hodge only qualifies through one Irish grandparent.

Dual nationality at it's finest on McGuinness' brother's Twitter. Shamrock emoji at the top. Tweets about England at the 2018 WC and one on our game v Wales in the qualifiers for same a little further down. It's not always too clear.

Easy wins for Spain and Portugal in the other group to kick off the tournament. Already looking like those two will be the semi finalists from that group.

https://mobile.twitter.com/FAIreland...439616/photo/1 . Looks like a 532 with maybe o connor one of the 3 in centre mid with hodge and kavanagh? Mcentee, mcguiness and ledwidge centre halfs with Lyons and James full backs?

Only thing is, didn't Kenny say that the underage teams have to play a variation on 4-3-3?

If that's the case then I can't make head nor tail of the team. It does look like there are only two forwards. Although didn't Lee O'Connor play as a wide forward before? Could be him or Kavanagh up there on the left. But then I don't know who plays midfield with Hodge and O'Connor/Kavanagh. I'm lost here.

There's definitely a lot of height at centre back if it's McGuinness and McEntee there.