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.
Shane Long ruled out, going in for surgery
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.
Ringmahon coach reveals Liverpool keeper Kelleher started up front as the team's top scorer
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.
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
Last edited by samhaydenjr; 11/11/2018 at 4:26 AM.
Maguire looked like he had something about him when he came off the bench in October.
Will the squad convene tomorrow in Dublin?
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.
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?
Lining up 3-4-3 according to sky sports.
McClean. Up front. Against the North.
That'll end well.
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