Quotewow 96th minute goal for us!
96th minute winner!
90+9 on Uefa site, they are giving it to Ryan Sweeney but FAI have given it to Donnellan
Shaun Donnellan with the goal.
Last edited by Closed Account; 27/03/2018 at 8:30 PM.
wow 96th minute goal for us!
with germany drawing 0 all earlier with kosovo it makes it interesting
nice editOriginally Posted by TrapAPony
Just back from the game. Azerbaijan didn't come to play football, or even try to get out of their own half. Apart from one cross/shot that O'Hara tipped on to the bar didn't trouble the Irish goal. Their number 9 did look a handful though.
The two strikers were barely involved. Grego-Cox looked to be carrying a few extra pounds, and was outstripped by the opposition full backs a few times. Rice and Curtis were the most impressive players in the first half. Cullen looked good on the ball too.
Once the Irish players got the ball in the opposition half, the Azeris all dropped back to defend, and through sheer force of numbers repelled the attack.
The second half was basically the Irish players getting into the last third of the pitch, the Azeris getting in the way, kicking the ball clear, and waiting for the next attack. We were denied two penalties, one which was clear cut, one maybe 50-50.
The players were getting frustrated with the opposition time wasting, and at least two of them were booked for it by the ref. Fittingly enough, one of their innumerable fouls led to the goal, a free kick delivered to the far post and bundled over the line by Shaun Donnellan, see below.
Needed that cause it a tough run in .... Long time to wait for them but at least they still in the hunt!
Manning's reaction as he watches the scramble unfold is fantastic! Quality delivery from him as well, he had to get it right.
Hope next season is kinder to Manning than this has been, albeit the season has had it's ups the odd time.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breaki.../--866416.html
Republic of Ireland U21 squad:Dundalk midfielder Jamie McGrath called up for Republic of Ireland U21s
Republic of Ireland U21 Head Coach Noel King has named an 18-player squad for the U21 European Championship qualifiers against Kosovo and Germany.
The U21s travel to Kosovo tomorrow for the qualifying match in Mitrovica on Friday with kick-off at 6pm Irish time.
They then face Germany on Tuesday, September 11, at Tallaght Stadium at 6pm.
Dundalk midfielder Jamie McGrath has been called into the squad following his impressive form for the Lilywhites in the SSE Airtricity League.
Leeds United's Connor Shaughnessy is recalled to the squad and Everton's Harry Charsley also comes back into the squad after he was ruled out of the Azerbaijan victory through injury.
The Hale brothers, Ronan and Rory, who both scored in the 3-1 win over Iceland in March also keep their place in the squad as Noel King's side look to qualify for next year's U21 European Championships.
Yeovil Town defender Shaun Donnellan has been ruled out of through injury whilst QPR winger Olamide Shodipo is also sidelined.
Ireland are currently second in Group Five behind Germany in top spot having played one game less. Kosovo are in third.
Noel King said: "The players are really looking forward to the week ahead and the squad are excited about the fixtures. They've got ourselves into a great position going into the games and they'll look to secure more crucial points in these next two games.
"I'd like to welcome Jamie McGrath into the U21 squad for the first time. He's a player I've been watching for some time and has really impressed for Dundalk this season. It's also great to have Harry Charsley back in the squad after injury.
"The group are missing a few players, the likes of Connor Dimaio, Olamide Shodipo and Shaun Donnellan so the group will have to come together and work hard during the week to get the results we need."
Goalkeepers:
Kieran O'Hara (Manchester United, loan Macclesfield Town),
Liam Bossin (Nottingham Forest).
Defenders:
Danny Kane (Cork City FC, loan AFC Fylde),
Ryan Sweeney (Stoke City, loan Mansfield United),
Liam Kinsella (Walsall),
Connor Shaughnessy (Leeds United),
Ryan Delaney (Rochdale),
Corey Whelan (Liverpool, loan Crewe Alexandra).
Midfielders:
Jake Mulraney (Hearts),
Jamie McGrath (Dundalk),
Ryan Manning (QPR, loan Rotherham United),
Harry Charsley (Everton),
Josh Cullen (West Ham United, loan Charlton Athletic),
Rory Hale (Derry City).
Forwards:
Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth),
Joe Quigley (Maidstone),
Reece Grego-Cox (Crawley Town),
Ronan Hale (Birmingham City, loan Derry City).
9 of the 18 players are born in Ireland and of the other 9, one is Mark Kinsella's son so not as bad as other squads. Also, of those 9 Irish players the Hales, Kane and McGrath are at LOI sides and Curtis, Manning and Delaney had very formative times in their career in the LOI. Only Shaughnessy and Mulraney are Irish-born players who can't refer to the LOI are being key to their development.
Is there some sort of rule preventing us from bringing in new players at this point of the competition or promoting players from the U-19s? If not, why don't we see the likes of Jimmy Dunne, Conor Masterson or Ryan Nolan at the back? Or Caoimhin Kelleher in goal? Or Michael Obafemi or Aaron Connolly up front? I'm particularly worried that there's no mention of Nolan, a teenager who is on the fringe of the Inter Milan squad and qualifies for Spain through residency
It's a tricky one. Should we replace Danny Kane with Dunne as Kane had to be shipped out on loan as he couldn't get a game in LOI? Quigley is sliding down the divisions- why not bring in Connolly or Obafemi for him? Are they persisting with the players that have played all along and the older, stronger players instead of putting the future of Irish football first? Will Quigley or Kane ever play for the senior side?
I always die a little inside every time I see conference players in Irish underage squads. There are no excuses for it. Connor Ronan, Jimmy Dunne, Jake Doyle-Hayes should all be in that squad. Jack Byrne too despite his attitude is still good enough to be there. I would also agree that I do not understand why Nolan hasn't been called up to any Irish underage team despite being highly rated at Inter Milan.
Last edited by TrapAPony; 03/09/2018 at 3:51 PM.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
You think a guy in League One, a guy who's played a couple of SPL games in his career and an U23s league player should be ahead of a guy who's a regular in the team and has taken a chance by going out to play football?
Or to put it another way: do we think that a player who played 21 National League and 20 League Two games last season an went straight into the first team at the SPL leaders this season after featuring in pre-season for his EPL parent club should be ahead of a player with 6 National League games under his belt? Well... yes. I mean good luck to Danny Kane, I hope he gets regular football and gets his career moving upwards. But clearly Dunne is further along in his career. Even if Kane cements his place for half a season or so at Fylde, he'll then likely have to come back to Cork City, impress next season and then look for a transfer to an upper-tier English club. By then, Dunne could well have a full SPL season under his belt and may even be an EPL regular. And yes, you could make the argument that Kane justifies his place as the regular player in the U21 squad, but that just leads to the question: why wasn't Dunne in the squad all along?
And regarding Connor Ronan... he has been mentioned as a potential top talent and has made 16 League One appearances and 7 Championship Appearances along with some cup appearances, including impressing in a League Cup game against the Mighty Manchester City. Although I do see reasonable arguments for all the other midfielders so that isn't as blatant of an omission. Incidentally he's gone on loan to Walsall so it will give us another opportunity to see how he's developing: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/45375788
You're still talking about discarding players who have performed well enough as starters to get us to this point in favour of guys who haven't performed at a higher level. And you're also not even comparing the right players as Kane is playing full-back for Ireland and the players you mention are a centre-half and two midfielders, none of whom would be challenging for his place.
If you want to make a case for Dunne ahead of Sweeney or Ronan ahead of McGrath, go ahead, but you're not doing that.
Last edited by Charlie Darwin; 05/09/2018 at 3:18 AM.
Okay, I'll admit that I didn't know that, which means we're thin on the ground for right-backs at this age group. And sure, there is the case to be made for sticking with the players who started the qualifiers at a time that Dunne was just starting out at Barrow. So it might be a bit of 20/20 hindsight to say that his potential should have been spotted earlier in the campaign, although with the FAI scouting for Irish-eligible English-born players, they should also be keeping a close ear to the ground on the progress of Irish youngsters and their clubs' plans for them. Because right now, it looks like Dunne is going to be playing regularly at a higher level than the other centre-halves for the next few months and I can even see a path where he would be playing at a high enough level to merit consideration for the senior team within a year (good loan spell at Hearts leading to him breaking into the Burnley first team) - I can't see that for the other centre-backs, with the possible exception of Shaughnessy.
As regards Ronan, I did say that I agreed that there wasn't a clear argument for his inclusion over the others but I felt to dismiss his case on the basis of him being just a "League One player" was unfair. On a single-game basis he's probably tasted action at the highest level of this group, holding his own against the Manchester City midfield in the League Cup in front of 50,000. Of course Manning and Cullen both have more senior experience overall in the English Leagues, as does Mulraney in Scotland and the two LOI lads, and it would be hypocritical of me to have said elsewhere that LOI should be used as a pathway to gaining senior experience for more of our young players and go on to dismiss the LOI careers of McGrath and Hale to date. But I do feel we should keep a very close eye on Ronan's progress at Walsall as it will hopefully indicate whether he will prove to be the calibre of player we're hoping he will be - if so, we should be ready to call him up to the U21 squad
Last edited by samhaydenjr; 06/09/2018 at 1:34 AM.
8 of the starting 11 born in England. Granted, however, Curtis was reared in Donegal and Liam Kinsella is Mark's son.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks