Gibraltar V Republic of Ireland - Saturday, 23rd March 2019 - Euro 2020 Qualifier

[backstothewall]

Republic of Ireland Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Kieran O'Hara (Macclesfield Town*), Mark Travers (Bournemouth)

Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Cyrus Christie (Fulham), Richard Keogh (Derby County), John Egan (Sheffield United), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Kevin Long (Burnley), Jimmy Dunne (Sunderland*), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United), Derrick Williams (Blackburn Rovers), Stephen Ward (Burnley)

Midfielders: Aiden McGeady (Sunderland), Alan Judge (Ipswich Town), James McCarthy (Everton), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Harry Arter (Cardiff City*), Glenn Whelan (Aston Villa), David Meyler (Coventry City*), Shaun Williams (Millwall), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Callum O'Dowda (Bristol City), James McClean (Stoke City), Daryl Horgan (Hibernian)

Forwards: Shane Long (Southampton), Sean Maguire (Preston North End), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth), Scott Hogan (Sheffield United*), Aiden O'Brien (Millwall), David McGoldrick (Sheffield United), James Collins (Luton Town), Padraig Amond (Newport County)

[Olé Olé]

A lot more League One and Two than I would like.

[IsMiseSean]

That forward line is depressing.

[backstothewall]

That forward line is depressing.

I don't see that some of those guys offer more than the likes of Parrott or Idah. Are League 1 & 2 really a better standard than Premier League 2?

[TerryPhelan]

I gather Parrott is injured and has been ruled out of selection for the u21s. No idea about Idah.

[Kingdom]

Onloy thing I'd say about Parrott, is that he could suffer physically just now.

[tetsujin1979]

Have to imagine at least one of them will be named in the under 21 squad, and if not there they'll have to be in the under 19 squad for the elite qualifiers starting on the 20th

[backstothewall]

Onloy thing I'd say about Parrott, is that he could suffer physically just now.

He might. It's a risk.

But then Again. He might not. There is only one way to find out.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the last time Mick was faced with this situation. Aldo and Cass had gobe and there was talk of call ups for guys like Sean Devine or Lee Trundle who were scoring goals down the divisions. In the end Mick didn't go down that path and instead gave caps to kids like David Connolly, Keith O'Neill and Robbie Keane.

If ever there was a game when on paper it looked like a young forward might get kicked out of it it was April 22nd 1998. Argentina came to the old Lansdowne Road a 17 year old Robbie Keane made his home debut up front alongside Quinner. Argentina had Nelson Vivas, Roberto Sensini and Roberto Ayala in defence, none of whom were likely to allow themselves to be embarrassed because they went easy on some punk kid.

Robbie tortured them. Ortega was unplayable and the Argies beat us 2-0, but the next day the guy people were talking about was a scrawny teenager who looked like he was going home to finish his homework after the match.

[Eminence Grise]

OK, not much to get excited about there. It seems we're going be going game to game for a while. I think L2, and even L1, should be no-go areas unless there is an outstanding young prospect ripping it up. Still: are Collins and Amond capable of scoring against Gibraltar? I think so. Is Dunne good enough to help shut them out? Yes. Like his first stint I think there'll be a utilitarian approach (Dave Savage, Liam Daish!) until Mick can integrate three or four good prospects and ease out older or lower standard players. I'd hope that by the end of the year we'll see three or four players (Obafemi, Crowley, Bamford, and a wild card) with four or five caps apiece.

[backstothewall]

Robbie's highlights
https://youtu.be/WHjr4arcEp8

Interview with him and Mick after the game
https://youtu.be/qNp--iX8FWQ

[mark12345]

Randolph

Coleman Duffy Stevens
Doherty Browne Arter Brady
Maguire McGoldrick O'Dowda

Plenty of attacking intent there, I would say.

[centre mid]

The Defence and Midfield are reasonable ok, its a shame Obafemi is out as he is something different upfront to what we've had for a while, a bit of pace

[nigel-harps1954]

I don't see that some of those guys offer more than the likes of Parrott or Idah. Are League 1 & 2 really a better standard than Premier League 2?

The difference is they're playing senior football. They're playing in front of crowds, and they're playing competitively.

[Razors left peg]

He might. It's a risk.

But then Again. He might not. There is only one way to find out.

Sadly I'm old enough to remember the last time Mick was faced with this situation. Aldo and Cass had gobe and there was talk of call ups for guys like Sean Devine or Lee Trundle who were scoring goals down the divisions. In the end Mick didn't go down that path and instead gave caps to kids like David Connolly, Keith O'Neill and Robbie Keane.

If ever there was a game when on paper it looked like a young forward might get kicked out of it it was April 22nd 1998. Argentina came to the old Lansdowne Road a 17 year old Robbie Keane made his home debut up front alongside Quinner. Argentina had Nelson Vivas, Roberto Sensini and Roberto Ayala in defence, none of whom were likely to allow themselves to be embarrassed because they went easy on some punk kid.

Robbie tortured them. Ortega was unplayable and the Argies beat us 2-0, but the next day the guy people were talking about was a scrawny teenager who looked like he was going home to finish his homework after the match.

Im pretty sure Robbie was in the Wolves first team by then

[SkStu]

He was - and had scored quite a few of his 11 Championship goals that season at that point

[pineapple stu]

I wasn't really expecting much else, given our potential recruits are all works in progress. I thought it might be a smaller provisional squad though so we'd get an idea of the way he's thinking, but there are literally no exclusions worth mentioning? Maybe Liam Kelly, at a push, but he's barely making Reading squads.

I'd agree with that.

I'd be more interested to see what differences there are between Mick's Ireland and Martin's Ireland. We know we don't have much strength in depth these days - but the style of play under O'Neill was surely the biggest bone of contention.

Going to be hard to judge that against Gibraltar, with all respect to them, but still, I think it'll be the first real point of interest, not the new call-ups

[Fizzer]

Glenn Whelan’s a bit of a surprise is he? Mick must be a bit worried about McCarthy’s lack of games and Ater’s form.
I think if you’re not going to use the game to blood fresh faces then it’s one to play form players in.Might be made for McGeady, O’Dowda and even Amond.

[backstothewall]

He was in the Wolves team, and if we had someone of that age in that position I'd be suggesting they play. But we don't.

He got his chance because Steve Bull got injured and he grabbed it with both hands. But do you guys think it would have made any difference if he hadn't been in the Wolves team? Hypothetically if Steve Bull hadn't been injured should Mick have played Sean Devine against Argentina or gone with the kid from Wolves Reserves?

Personally I think Robbie was ready at 17. I think he would have played the same game no matter what. Watching it back he had no ringcraft to his game at all at that age. He was getting by based on God given talent and running around like a headless Duracell bunny

The hardest thing for a talented kid that age to get in today's game is a chance to show how good they are. I don't think we have to wait for the modern equivalent of Steve Bull getting injured. The one advantage we have being a small country is that we can give their career a bit of a leg up ourselves.

Say we are well ahead against Gibraltar and we put Idah on at half time. Even if he doesn't do much it'll get a write up in the local paper over there. The club will post about it on their social media. Daniel Farke will be asked if he will get a chance in the team between now and the end of the season. It all just moves him that bit closer to the front of the queue.

We might have to kiss a few frogs before we find our prince but in life you have to give fate a chance to intervene.

[Olé Olé]

Only realising now reading an article on the 42 that Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham didn't make the cut. Surprised with both. Derrick Williams doesn't get a run at Blackburn.

[samhaydenjr]

Republic of Ireland Provisional Squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Keiren Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday), Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool), Kieran O'Hara (Macclesfield Town*), Mark Travers (Bournemouth)

I guess I stand corrected on my earlier "never win anything with kids" attitude, well as far as the keepers are concerned anyway (plus maybe Jimmy Dunne)

That forward line is depressing.

Yeah, it's quite frustrating, as it feels like we're close to having an embarrassment of riches - if it wasn't for injury (Obafemi, Robinson, Keane, Maguire during the Nations League), goalscoring droughts of talented strikers (Long, Hogan), starting the paperwork too late (Bamford, Keane), players only finding real form in the second half of their careers (Collins, Amond) and talented youngsters not quite being ready yet (Parrott, Idah, Connolly, Afolabi, McAuley, Cassidy, Roache, Keena, Oko-Flex if he comes on board)

Only realising now reading an article on the 42 that Darragh Lenihan and Greg Cunningham didn't make the cut. Surprised with both. Derrick Williams doesn't get a run at Blackburn.

Lenihan out injured until after the international break: https://www.lancs.live/sport/footbal...njury-15904631