Under-21 Squad

[third policeman]

Give it to Kilbane maybe even Aldo

Decent shout re Aldo. Surprised he never got another chance after a decent run with Tranmere. I know it ended badly, but are football management careers like political careers in that respect. In any case where are they now?

[Stuttgart88]

Cunningham wants to be involved I think.

[tetsujin1979]

few calls ups before the friendly against Norway tonight in Waterford: http://www.fai.ie/ireland/match/5550...64?tab=preview

Amongst those brought in are Shamrock Rovers midfielder Brandon Miele, Cork City midfielder Kevin O’Connor, Liverpool defender Dan Cleary and Birmingham City defender Noe Baba while there are recalls for St Patrick’s Athletic defender Lee Desmond, Tottenham’s Kenny McEvoy, Manchester City's Ian Lawlor and Everton’s Sam Byrne.

[TrapAPony]

Cunningham wants to be involved I think.

Would be divisive like Doolin IMO. His personality suggests so..

[Stuttgart88]

Really?

[TrapAPony]

Really?

For me anyway...

[DeLorean]

He does seem like a zero tolerance kind of guy, could be a good thing though.

They drew 0-0 btw

[Closed Account]

King names provisional U21 squad for Italy & Slovenia
http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/art...taly-slovenia/

Republic of Ireland U21 Head Coach Noel King has announced a provisional 24-man squad for two upcoming UEFA U21 Championship Qualifying Round Group 2 fixtures against Italy and Slovenia.

The Irish face the Italians at the RSC, Waterford, on Thursday, March 24 (6.00pm), then travel to Koper to face Slovenia on March 28 (5.00pm Irish). Italy are currently top of the group with 13 points from five games but King’s charges were very unlucky not to secure at least a point from their meeting in Vicenza in October when the Italians secured a 1-0 win with ten men.

Ireland lost their next fixture 3-1 against Lithuania so King will be looking to his side to get back on form against the Azzurri in Waterford. The Irish squad will be reduced to 18 players prior to the fixtures.

Republic of Ireland U21 squad to face Italy and Slovakia:

Ian Lawlor (Manchester City – on-loan to Bury)
Danny Rogers (Aberdeen – on-loan to Falkirk)
Brian Lenihan (Hull City)
Tommie Hoban (Watford)
Glen Rea (Brighton)
Jack Connors (Dagenham)
Niall Keown (Reading)
Sean Hoare (St Patrick’s Athletic)
Kevin O’Connor (Cork City)
Darragh Lenihan (Blackburn Rovers)
Alan Browne (Preston North End)
Harry Charsley (Everton)
Josh Cullen (West Ham United – on-loan to Bradford)
Jack Byrne (Manchester City – on-loan to Cambuur)
Callum O’Dowda (Oxford United)
Brandon Miele (Shamrock Rovers)
Conor Wilkinson (Bolton Wanderers – on-loan to Newport County)
Shamir Goodwin (Crawley Town)
Josh Barrett (Reading)
Shane Griffin (Reading)
Sean Maguire (Cork City)
Sean Long (Reading)
Dylan Connolly (Bray Wanderers)
Kenny McEvoy (York City)

[tetsujin1979]

Good to see Lenihan back. I think Hoban is still injured, so he might pull out. Slight disappointment that Browne and Byrne are in this squad instead of the senior squad to be named on Friday, but they're unlikely to go France anyway.

[greendeiseboy]

What's the story with Grego Cox

[Charlie Darwin]

What's the story with Grego Cox

Hasn't had a sniff of the first team this season. Would want to get out on loan.

[Closed Account]

Big game for the younger lads this evening. A settled Irish XI against a well regarded Italian side with some Serie A experience.

Probable Irish Lineup

		Rogers
Long	D.Lenihan		Rea	Connors
	Browne		Cullen
O'Dowda		Byrne		Connolly
		Wilkinson

They might go 4-1-4-1 like the last time they played the italians with Darragh Lenihan in front of the back 4 but I think the above gets more attackers in a game we need to win.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Browne injured unfortunately.

Lambo has been comparing Lenihan to Roy Keane.

[tetsujin1979]

Didn't know the game is on Setanta Ireland later: http://www.setanta.com/tv-listings

[Closed Account]

http://www.uefa.com/under21/season=2...145/index.html

1 Rogers(GK)
2 Lenihan
3 Connors
4 Rea
5 Keown
6 Lenihan(C)
7 Charsley
8 O'Connor
9 Wilkinson
10 J. Byrne
11 O'Dowda
Subs: Lawlor, Griffin, Hoare, Maguire, Miele, Long, Barrett.

		Rogers
B.Lenihan	Keown		Rea	Connors
		D.Lenihan
Charsley	O'Connor		Byrne	O'Dowda
		Wilkinson

[geysir]

This is about the best stream i've come across for this game though audio is weakish
http://ifirstrow.eu/watch/422155/3/w...taly,-u21.html

Ireland one up, but for how long?

[MeathDrog]

Future does not look bright..

[Park_Lane]

Future does not look bright..

King is a garbage manager pure and simple. like Givens before him. Seems to have a job for life with the FAI. Results seem to get worse and worse with the 21's. Not expecting us to be world beaters or anything but we have decent players playing at a decent level and should be doing better.

[Charlie Darwin]

Lads, we just got beaten by a team full of Serie A regulars.

[Olé Olé]

They weren't actually that bad. They were over-powered in midfield (Browne was probably a very big loss in there) and Wilkinson was stranded up front. I'm not sure if Wilkinson will cut the mustard anyway.

Byrne showed some really great flashes of brilliance. Very good on the set-pieces and there was a stage there on about 75 minutes when he ran at the Italians and drew about 6 players before slipping the ball to a teammate.

The fourth goal was tragically unlucky for Lenihan and was against the run of play. Although, shortly afterwards the Italians forced a brilliant save from Danny Rogers. Rogers actually made a dash out towards the end when Italy seemed to have a 2v1 situation with the Irish defence. I like the look of him.