Surely an easy answer is to bring in Curtis, limited and all as he is he should be fine at Under 21 level, and that would release Devaney into midfield. And hopefully Moorhouse to come in by next month.
What's with Alex Murphy not being picked to start, is he just not that good or is it another Jim Crawford special?
I just find everything about the Under 21 setup under Crawford beyond frustrating. We'd likely have established ourselves as regulars at tournament finals in recent years under an even remotely competent manager.
It's two campaigns. Anyone blaming the first campaign on Crawford is doing so because they don't like Crawford. He came in that campaign with only three games to go, we were already third when he came in, and Kenny gutted the team when he left.Originally Posted by Eirambler
Yes, Kenny took a few, but Crawford still had a squad that included at least half a dozen future internationals (Collins, Scales, Taylor, Obafemi, Parrott and McGuinness) as well as other players that were strong at that level - O'Connor, Masterson, Scully, Coventry, Ronan etc. All we had to do was beat Iceland at home and we'd have qualified. It's absolutely fair to include it.
Last edited by Eirambler; 06/09/2025 at 11:06 AM.
Well, it kind of was though, in that we literally just had to beat Iceland at home. They weren't necessarily a terrible team, as you say they had beaten us away, but my recollection was that the game was played in very challenging conditions on an open windy park.
They went on to the finals at our expense and were soundly beaten in all of their games. With the team we had we really should have been qualifying there and I don't see how Crawford gets any more of a free pass for that than the one where we missed out in the playoffs to Israel. International qualifications campaigns are decided on fine margins and in that regard he's 0 from 3.
Féck the windy game game in Iceland excuse, in the return game in Tallaght, Iceland beat the fancied Ireland fair and square to go through to the Finals.
By the time the Finals happened, things had changed for that Iceland team, the senior team in need took priority.
We were top of the group when Kenny left with 16 points in 7 games. The team that played under Crawford had a mix of now internationals: Bazunu, O’Connor, Collins, Smallbone, Taylor, Obafemi, McGuinness (Scales. Parrott on bench) along with Kenny mainstays Masterson, Coventry, Ronan, Elbouzedi, Leahy. Why exactly he started Antony Scully over Troy Parrott, we’ll never know… Bazunu was called up to the seniors for the Iceland game cause of an injury to Kelleher which was a huge blow.
Iceland did beat us in Iceland but yes, it was in a wind storm on a trampoline of an artificial pitch where Obafemi missed an open goal and there was a pretty questionable penalty and a late red card for Lee O’Connor. It was also the worst result in the campaign for us. We beat Sweden home and away and we took points off Italy at home under Kenny.
Not at all the same as playing them at home - albeit during covid and in equally bad conditions and another last minute red card.
Also worth comparing their home results vs their away results:
Iceland 6-1 Armenia
Iceland 3-0 Luxembourg
Iceland 1-0 Ireland
Iceland 1-0 Sweden
Iceland 1-2 Italy
Sweden 5-0 Iceland
Italy 3-0 Iceland
Ireland 1-2 Iceland
Luxembourg 0-2 Iceland
Armenia P-P Iceland
It got a bit lost in the aftermath of the senior debacle, but the Under 21s followed up a narrow away win over Moldova with a narrow home win over Andorra. This crop are, as expected, going nowhere fast under Jim Crawford, I wouldn't be shocked if Andorra took something from the return fixture.
They’re gonna need a better manager than Jim to guide this group. A centre midfielder at right back. A centre back in centre midfield and another centre back at left back. A number 10 on the right wing. In the second half, a winger playing number 10. Late in the game, a defensive midfielder coming on at right wing. Basically a performance as messy as that sounds.
The good news is that both Melia and Noonan look better than Ferguson did at 17. How wild is that???
Kone Doherty looked good on his debut. Hopefully Moorhouse and Elding can add something quickly - that squad had a handful of players who I don’t think are up to the level yet. Would have liked to see Romeo - the game was calling out for him to replace Mullins in the second half
I only saw the second half but there is probably a case to fast track Kone Doherty to the first team squad. He’s absolutely lightening fast with the ball at his feet and seems to have the close control to go with it that’s very rare to see. The problem being, the senior team has so many other issues at the moment, that I’m not sure they have the ability to get the ball to his feet and he’s still very slight so not going to be any use firing 50/50 balls in the air at him. He looks to be as quick as Festy/Ogbene but with much better control and speed with the ball.
Noonan took his goal brilliantly off the bench. Didn’t look to be much else to get excited about. Not much evidence of a solution to left back or central midfield issues in the senior team.
I was wondering how much of a crowd there would be in Tallaght and it was quite sad to be honest. A 2/3's full old stand and that was it. No atmosphere. I got to the game late and the breeze that was blowing into the Irish faces in the first half dropped more or less for the 2nd half.
Ireland were ponderous on the ball, and like I'll touch on with the SMNT in the other thread, it wasn't for the lack of options - it was a lack of courage or vision. It was hard arriving late to pin blame, but the two centre-halves have to shoulder the killing of momentum. We were afraid to play a 5 yd forward pass at times. Vata, god love him (he must be reflecting on his decision to plump for us), he tried and tried to get into position to make something happen just like he did in Moldova and for me he's the one I'd be fast-tracking now because he is exactly what we don't have in the senior side. I thought Mullins wasn't poor either and he was genuinely trying to move into space but was just not being found.
First time for a good while seeing Melia in the flesh, and he's so far ahead of his teammates with speed of thought - this was obvious I thought when Kone-Doherty came on. Mason was being dragged, pulled and bumped and dunted throughout the time he was on the pitch. His touch was quite good - there was one ball that was zipped into him that he absolutely killed to perfection into the path of TKD that was just nicked away in a dangerous area as the Derryman was about to bounce into the box.
On Kone-Doherty, he's clearly a winger in the old fashion of hugging the line, attacking the space and putting the fb on his arse, but he's light. I knew he was 19, but looking at it last night I thought he was 15 or 16. I'd fear for him to be honest and I'd have doubts about how far he can really go, because I'm not sure how much bigger he could get. But he absolutely added to the team, as did Noonan. The goal was a peach and as soon as it came to him you knew it was going in. It's great to think that they will be senior team options in the not-too-distant future.
It's ironic given all the talk of development and what not, that the two best players - only my opinion of course - were Melia and Noonan - homegrown and playing Senior professional mens football, with Vata close by.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Probably to be expected with the game starting so soon after the Armenia game ended in fairness.
You don't really lift Armenia despondency with a game against Andorra's kids either I guess.
I haven’t seen much of Kone-Doherty, but if he is as good as the players coming through in his position, thinking Ike Orazi and Jaden Umeh, that’s one part of the pitch with longer-term promise.
On other thing to add, and it's generally about sport here and attendance/fans/supporters. There's a lot of reactions and emotion and posts and talk reflecting that, but in a wider context, we're a terrible - absolutely terrible collective for supporting teams. We're event junkie, medal-chasing, wannabe's with a completely fantastical sense of what it is to be a supporter. The crowd in Tallaght was awful - you wouldn't have known there was a match on. A nice night, 10k seater stadium in one of the most accessible stadiums in the country and less than 3k there and those who were there had more interest in talking than actually supporting.
Something struck me - surely, with the crowd all shoe-horned into the old stand - there could have been some mechanism to show the senior match on a screen in the East Stand?
I can understand how dyed-in-the-wool League of Ireland club supporters laugh at us and our notions. They're right to do so of course. And it's not just football - it's Gah (I stupidly witness this every year with Kerry) - and here it with the rugby too. We get what we deserve.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
To be fair, the senior team's game finished at around 6:45, and the U21s were kicking off at 7:30. 45 minutes isn't a lot of time to get to Tallaght stadium, and when you factor in traffic, parking, and the weather was horrible yesterday around Dublin(although it had improved by kick off), that attendance isn't that surprising.
Also, it's a nonsense that these games are still played in Dublin, where there is already so much international sport for people there to go to. They'd fill Turner's Cross, or they could think outside the box a bit and head to the midlands, west or northwest. But no, just back to Tallaght again. This is a point that both relates to football and other matters, but if the country was any more Dublin-centric it would tip over into the Irish Sea.
yeah the games down here always sell well given they are such a rare occurence. Presuming the stadium passes UEFA regs, EDP in galway should be hosting games aswell.
Really? The U21s next game is against Slovakia at Turner's Cross, which holds 7,485 according to wikipedia. Cork are averaging less than half that this season - 3,253 according to transfermarkt, and had 2,516 for their last home game against Waterford. Do you really think another 5,000 fans would have gone to a qualifier against Andorra?
How much have we gotten for previous 21s games in Cork though?
Yes, you still wouldn't have gotten much for Andorra in Cork 45 minutes after the Armenia game ended. But I think the better comparison there is to see what Cork (or Galway or wherever) got for a one-off international, not regular clubs games of a side heading for relegation.
I got offered tickets as a consequence of my MNT season ticket, for the Slovakia game down in Turner's Cross. Myself and two kids are going down for it.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
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