Ireland B Team

[Irish_Praha]

I've been harping on about a B team for the last few weeks on here, so we can have a proper look at some of the fringe players and also some of the younger guys.
I realise that maybe the reason that B-Team matches seem to have disappeared is because of low attendances and it's difficult to get all the players together when it's not an official international break.

Maybe if the FAI got it's finger out we could arrange some kind of mini tournament next summer. As far as I know Lansdowne will be under construction so the games could be played at some of the EL stadia. We could invite some half-decent teams from pot 5. Cyprus for example, so that the quality of football would be good but not so good that our B-team would get trounced 5-0

If the prospect of playing against our B team is not inviting enough we can always call it the first team but omit all the players who got any major playing time during the last qualifiers.

This would be the starting 11 I would pick but of course it depends on how well they are playing by the end of the season:

------------------Stack----------------

Mabury----McCarthy---McShane---Clarke

McGeady----G. O'Connor---Quinn----Mahon

-------------Doyle-----Byrne----------

Subs: Hoolihan, Lee, O'Brien, Whelan, D. Murphy, Kenny, Whelan, S. Kelly, Thompson, Ireland, Garvan, Miller

There's some potential on the bench that could be introduced at any stage and I'd have no problem with Kelly, Whelan, O'Brien and Miller starting the game either.

It's obvious where we are lacking in the senior team so LB, the CM pairing and how well Doyle and Byrne do up front would be the most interesting areas for me.

As they are still so young I would expect Garvan, McShane, Ireland and Whelan to continue their development with underage squads after this mini tournament but you never know one of them might show themselves to be too good to be left out of the senior squad.

[4tothefloor]

Waste of time playing the likes of Alan Mahon and O'Connor ahead of the likes of Joey O'Brien and Stephen Ireland, are you mad? The aforementioned are not, and never will be, good enough for the Senior starting eleven. The latter two have the potential to be our future. In fact i'd put Ireland and O'Brien into the senior set up asap should they continue to feature regularly for their clubs. We might as well start now cos we will reap the dividends in years to come. We had to do it with Duff and Keane, and now it has come full circle and we are going to have to start blooding young again cos the players aren't there.

[Qwerty]

I don't see much benefit to B games really, but it might be useful for an Ireland B to play Ireland A1 and then Ireland A2 - that might be a useful exercise, it could be held in Turner's Cross or Oriel Park etc. You'd need at least 2 games for it to be of any use, so that players could at least remeble a team than just 11 guys.

[sligoman]

What about Lee Trundle? He scored a hat-trick for Swansea today. He could make the main squad so he certainly should make the B squad in my opinion

[Stuttgart88]

I've been harping on about a B team for the last few weeks on here, so we can have a proper look at some of the fringe players and also some of the younger guys.
I realise that maybe the reason that B-Team matches seem to have disappeared is because of low attendances and it's difficult to get all the players together when it's not an official international break.

Maybe if the FAI got it's finger out we could arrange some kind of mini tournament next summer.

I've been aware that the Scots have a Future Team but I didn't know that their games to date have been part of a tournament also including Germany, Turkey, Austria & Poland. Home & away with games being played over a few months.

Not a bad idea.

[Bluebeard]

I think that the idea of the "B", "Futures" or "A" (isn't that rugby?) is a good one, whatever we call it. We should definitely be investigating this competition Scotland are in with them. It would possibly be also a chance for those who are recently no longer U21 to show a new manager what they can do.

Might even have a friendly with an eL selection - I'd go to that alright!

[mchurl]

good idea i gotta say. We can work off the blueprint from the scots

[as_i_say]

last time we had a b international we lost 0-1 to the north! bring on your first team was their chant.

bless their orange cotton socks

[ThatGuy]

Waste of time playing the likes of Alan Mahon and O'Connor ahead of the likes of Joey O'Brien and Stephen Ireland, are you mad? The aforementioned are not, and never will be, good enough for the Senior starting eleven. The latter two have the potential to be our future. In fact i'd put Ireland and O'Brien into the senior set up asap should they continue to feature regularly for their clubs. We might as well start now cos we will reap the dividends in years to come. We had to do it with Duff and Keane, and now it has come full circle and we are going to have to start blooding young again cos the players aren't there.

O'Connor is playing regular first team football in the Championship with a side in with a good shout of the play-offs. He has to be in contention.

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

last time we had a b international we lost 0-1 to the north! bring on your first team was their chant.

bless their orange cotton socks

That's not quite true. That game against the North was in 1998. Robbie Keane, Duffer, Dunne, Kavanagh, Kinsella and Farrelly as captain played that night. It was a very worthwhile exercise. Wonder where Phil Hardy and Sean Devine are now?

However, our last B international was against an Eircom League selection in 2000. Think the B team won it 4-3 but I stand to be corrected... Think it was played on a cold, wet night in the Carlisle Grounds. Paul Butler played that night and Trevor Mollow made a mug out of him. The fact that the EL selection ran the B team so close that night was a bit of a PR disaster for Mick McCarthy. Think there was a small crowd at it too. The idea of a B international has barely been mentioned since.

[Tenderloins]

My main memory from that game was the cold!! It was freezing!
What ever happened to Eircom League XIs.
Also what team is used to qualify for soccer at the olympics? Is it nationally based Under 23s?

[tetsujin1979]

My main memory from that game was the cold!! It was freezing!
What ever happened to Eircom League XIs.
Also what team is used to qualify for soccer at the olympics? Is it nationally based Under 23s?

The U-21's usually play through the qualifiers, then you're allowed 2 overage players at the games themselves, I think Ronaldo was looking to represent Brazil at Athens, but Real wanted him to rest.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

There has been a lot made of the fact that Martin and Roy are yet to hand anyone their International debut and have went the tried and tested route. I'm not here to debate the merits of that - to say it's right or wrong - but I would like to push the merits of another International B team friendly to give uncapped lads an opportunity to impress in a suitable setting and see if they are worthy of taking the next step to a full call up.

If I was to select a B team, here is the squad I would choose from; I believe these are the best available options in the top 2 tiers of English football and the SPL.

Lawlor, McCarey, Henderson
White, Hoban, Kiernan, Doherty, Gunning, Williams, Long, O'Brien
McCann, Arter, O'Kane, Judge, Grealish, Carruthers, Murray, Doran
McGoldrick, Mason

Everyone could get game time too with 8 subs (excluding goalkeepers).

[DannyInvincible]

There has been a lot made of the fact that Martin and Roy are yet to hand anyone their International debut and have went the tried and tested route.

Has there? They gave Rob Elliot his debut against Turkey. I'd be hopeful Shane Duffy will also see some action in at least one of the remaining summer friendlies.

[Charlie Darwin]

Who are they going to play and when? Most of those players will be required for underage duties at any time you'd be scheduling games, and then you don't have many B teams for them to play so you'd end up playing Notts Forest or something again.

[BonnieShels]

Who are they going to play and when? Most of those players will be required for underage duties at any time you'd be scheduling games, and then you don't have many B teams for them to play so you'd end up playing Notts Forest or something again.

In Dalymount probably