Under-20 Squad

As mentioned in the press conference earlier this week, there's going to be an Under-20 game, and the squad was announced today for a friendly against an Under 21 Amateur side: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/irel...eland-amateurs

Republic of Ireland Under-20s squad

Goalkeepers: David Harrington (Cork City), David Odumosu (St. Patrick’s Athletic)

Defenders: Zak Delaney (Bath City, on loan from West Bromwich Albion), James Furlong (Brighton & Hove Albion), Nico Jones (Brentford), Harvey Neville (Inter Miami), Mazeed Ogungbo (Arsenal), Connor O’Riordan (Crewe Alexandra), Timi Sobowale (Wigan Athletic)

Midfielders: Tom Hill (Liverpool), Ciaran Gilligan (Burton Albion), Killian Philips (Crystal Palace), Joe Hodge (Wolves), Kian Leavy (Reading), Flynn Clarke (Norwich City)

Forwards: Darragh Burns (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Tom Cannon (Everton), Armstrong Oko-Flex (West Ham United), Deji Sotona (Brentford)

Some interesting names there
Harvey Neville is involved again (hasn't played for Inter Miami so far this season)
Darragh Burns has completed his change of allegiance to the Republic team
Joe Hodge only just back from injury and involved straight away
good to see Okoflex and Sotona involved too
I don't know anything about Tom Hill, but he's already played for Liverpool's senior team, in a League Cup game against Aston Villa in December 2019 that also featured Caoimhin Kelleher

It is possible with this being a friendly, Burns hasn’t fully completed the process, I’m not sure…

Tom Hill is a good find. Was very highly thought of at Liverpool but has had injury issues. Did his cruciate at the start of last season and missed the whole season. Didn’t really notice that he had come back from injury yet, pretty sure it must be a recent enough return, so obviously if he can find his pre-injury form it’s a real find.

He’s a small little fella, I’ve seen him play centre midfield, out wide, up top and behind the striker. The Villa game he played was the one where they had to play 2 games in 24 hours - but he was still an U18 and was picked ahead of a number of U23s. I think he was also on the bench once or twice more

Flynn Clarke is a name I had forgotten about. Was with Scotland while at Peterborough and rumours were on this forum that he was thinking of coming on board with us. He's signed since for Norwich.

Tom Hill is interesting. Great to see Sotona there. Connor O'Riordan seems to be an English born 18 year old getting games for Crewe.

Originally Posted by elatedscum

It is possible with this being a friendly, Burns hasn’t fully completed the process, I’m not sure…

Tom Hill is a good find. Was very highly thought of at Liverpool but has had injury issues. Did his cruciate at the start of last season and missed the whole season. Didn’t really notice that he had come back from injury yet, pretty sure it must be a recent enough return, so obviously if he can find his pre-injury form it’s a real find.

He’s a small little fella, I’ve seen him play centre midfield, out wide, up top and behind the striker. The Villa game he played was the one where they had to play 2 games in 24 hours - but he was still an U18 and was picked ahead of a number of U23s. I think he was also on the bench once or twice more

Yeah Dan McDonnell said recently that it's close to be finalised so could just be in because this is a training match and might not be eligible yet to feature for the U21s in two weeks.

The way Crawford was speaking suggests it's not fully finalised yet and we might not see him in with the U21s until next season.

I have taken from what he said that the transfer was pretty much done, but he was seen more as one for the next Under 21 campaign, because there are others ahead of him from the 2000/2001 group that are still Under 21 eligible this year?

Good initiative. Sotona and cannon involved is positive as is the hill and clarke news because nothing concrete came from.rhe rumours of them been eligible which were around a couple of seasons back

Originally Posted by Eirambler

I have taken from what he said that the transfer was pretty much done, but he was seen more as one for the next Under 21 campaign, because there are others ahead of him from the 2000/2001 group that are still Under 21 eligible this year?

Wouldn’t be surprised if Jack Moylan got his first call up? Far and away Shels best player - himself, Kerrigan and Burns all look good enough to be part of the 21s squad

Originally Posted by liamoo11

Good initiative. Sotona and cannon involved is positive as is the hill and clarke news because nothing concrete came from.rhe rumours of them been eligible which were around a couple of seasons back

Flynn Clarke's grandfather played for Northern Ireland and was surprised he was never linked with them. Last played with Scotland's U19s two years ago in friendlies.

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Harvey Neville is involved again (hasn't played for Inter Miami so far this season)

Serious lack of right backs coming through. Ebosele would be eligible in the next campaign but he could easily be a senior by next year. Beyond that, Seamus Keogh - don’t think he’s getting his game for Sligo - McEvoy was the starter during the euros but never looked good enough. 2003 had Gavin Liam O’Brien at u17 from Bohs but I think injuries have stalled his development and the U19s are currently playing Abankwah (2004) there with Sam Curtis (2005) as the backup.

All of which explains why Harvey Neville is involved, but probably doesn’t have much future. Might be better playing a left back there, there’s plenty of them: Furlong, Aderamola, Roughan, Adedokun

Originally Posted by JR89

Flynn Clarke's grandfather played for Northern Ireland and was surprised he was never linked with them. Last played with Scotland's U19s two years ago in friendlies.

Maybe he just wanted to play for Ireland? Great to see!

I see Colin Clarke is from Newry so maybe he preferred us himself too. Wonder if there's any other qualification. Maybe Colin's wife was born in Ireland too.

Im going to predict that Sontona, Oko Flex and Cannon wont turn up for this

Flynn clarke isn't eligible for NI.

I'm a Liverpool fan and I hadn't noticed hill back involved in the 23s after his injury so the urish youth set up have obviously been keeping in touch with him during his rehab and telling him that they wanted him involved when he was fit again. I think that is very impressive just even on a human level especially because hill has been out 18 months with his knee injury which is desperately difficult psychologically

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

Im going to predict that Sontona, Oko Flex and Cannon wont turn up for this

Correct on first two.
Also Hill and Neville.

Its a bit of a crap friendly to set up though isn't it? Against Ireland amatuers? Lads training couple nights a week. They're bringing players over from premier league set ups to play them, can understand why the premier league clubs dont want them exposed to that.

Yes, surprised they couldn't find another international Under 20 team to play against. I know not every country has Under 20 setups but some do. Or even find an Under 19 or Under 21 team looking for a friendly.

Majority of the squad were based in the UK and the LOI break for internationals now so could have just stayed in the UK and played a premier league reserve team.

Originally Posted by JR89

Majority of the squad were based in the UK and the LOI break for internationals now so could have just stayed in the UK and played a premier league reserve team.

It's crazy in fairness. Tom hill hasn't played a game in 18 months after doing his cruciate would you really let him come over for a game like that ?

Lineup from Daniel McDonnell

Scrappy game to say the least, pitch didn't help. You'd have your doubts about Crawford, you really would - won't matter much if we get a win against Sweden next week I guess but he had the far superior group of players and they only created 3 chances in the game… It felt both managers were far far too conservative.


Things I thought:


1) Odumosu had little to do but did it well. Couldn't really tell if he was at fault for the goal from my angle. It was a corner whipped in narrow which pinged around the 6 yard box before being rebounded in. My instinct was it wasn't his fault but frankly it happened pretty quick. Harrington didn't have anything to do in the second half.


2) Sobawele - he's a better full back than you'd have thought. He's filled out a bit and looks shorter as a result, I guess he was never as tall as he looked. Still not sure he's the answer at right back but I guess it's between him and Abankwah for the next campaign, unless Egan-Riley or Bradley defects.


3) Jones was the better of the two starting centre-halves - won everything in the air, used the ball well. The other lad O'Riordan got absolutely skinned by Sam Burgess, who looked good enough to be playing pro football. Ogungbo came on, and had little to do, as the amateurs defended for the majority of the second half. Same with Delaney.


4) Phillips is huge for a midfielder. Built like Declan Rice.


5) Kian Leavy was really impressive at the start. Has a spark about him, not sure he'll make it, lots of those creative midfielders get squeezed out and don't become what they could be - but he was really bright and creative.


6) Gilligan didn't do a lot for me. Matt Healy the same - few too many hollywood passes from him.


7) Was just hoping Joe Hodge wouldn't get injured. He looked very good but not quite his old self yet. Equally the pitch wasn’t conducive to passing the ball. He did almost score a beautiful curler which just went wide. The amateurs were flying in with tackles. I guess in many instances, this is the pinnacle of their careers and they want to give it all. Then there were a few lads who seemed to object to being outplayed by a kid and got really stuck in. Either way, Hodge more than anyone else worried me, could have seen him poleaxed by Michael Fox who had a few lunges at him. Darragh Burns also got a good few knocks, as did Healy.


8) Darragh Burns work rate was pretty impressive. Was doubled up a lot throughout the game and didn't do much with the ball but worked his socks off. Probably would have expected more from the freekick he took, great position for a left footer and he hit the wall, not even particularly high up. Dylan Duffy on the other side struggled for most the game, although he hit the post in the second half, which would have been an excellent goal


9) Tom Cannon had his moments. He had one where he used his pace to go past a player out wide and tried to square it for Leavy who would have had an open goal. The pass was behind Leavy and nothing came of it. So the run to get into that position was really good but the pass was awful. He had another one where he showed good pace and could have been in but a heavy touch, perhaps due to a bobble, cost the chance. Also showed good feet out wide on one occasion. Overall, not a good performance, but you could see him being good at 21s for us, with better players around him. Kyle Robinson didn’t have much of an impact in the few minutes he played.

Was nice to see the likes of Brian Maher, Ross Tierney and Andy Lyons watching. And for what it's worth, Maher seemed tall enough - walked past him when i was arriving and leaving and I'm 6'1, maybe a bit taller on a good day, looked like he might have been wearing some kinda nike platforms but from a yard or two away, it looked like he was about the same height as me in them.