2026 UEFA European Under-19 Championship

[tetsujin1979]

Squad announced for the first qualifying round against the Kazakhstan, Cyprus, and the Netherlands
https://www.fai.ie/latest/mu19-squad...s-netherlands/

The squad looks a little weak to me, but there's a few players in Qatar that would probably be included if they were available

uefa.com(under 19)
2026 UEFA Under-19 Championship
2026 UEFA Under-19 Championship Qualification
2026 UEFA Under-19 Championship Qualification Group 1

[elatedscum]

genuinely the worst squad we've called up in the last decade or more for a competitive camp.

From the squad last month, none of the non-established premier league lads made the squad for whatever reason, be that something similar to the Jack Moorhouse situation - that's Jay McEvoy, Rafe McCormack (both Man Utd), George King (Crystal Palace) and Harry Byrne (Spurs) and Oliver Tevenan (Man City) from the previous squad. Ike Orazi is also missing from the last squad who would have been one of the two star players, alongside Aaron Ochoa Moloney.

None of Kaylem Harnett, Igor Vassenin or Daniel Mare are in the squad, whether that's by choice or not - defensively is where we're probably strongest - but if i was guessing a squad in advance, I would have at least two of them in it.

In terms of midfielders, that's where the struggles start: Niall McAndrew broke his leg in september, Jacob Devaney is with the u21s, Luke McDonnell has a long term injury and Matthew Moore injured himself at the end of September. Those 4 and Ochoa Moloney are the 5 midfielders who would definitely make the squad if available. In terms of other options: Joe Sheridan played for us in September and then was called up by NI U21 in October and played 1 minute vs Malta, meaning he'd need to go through an association change to play for us. As soon as he played that single minute against Malta, he was dropped from the squad for the second game and is with their u19s this camp. The fact that Mo Oladiti who didn't make the u17 squad (and probably would have at RB if they were 23 man squads, not 21) is gonna play as a CM speaks volumes.

Wingers - you'd imagine Ike Orazi and Cathal O'Sullivan would be your starters. Cathal has an ACL injury. If the midfield had more depth, Ochoa Moloney could have started there. I'd have imagined that Umeh would definitely be in the squad.

Strikers - Mason Melia is with the 21s, Michael Noonan is with the 17s and William Martin is with Denmark due to being left out by Colm O'Brien at 17s, elite phase (we lost every game) and Denmark u17s won every game and then he wasn't picked for our 19s as an underage player and Denmark have an u18s team, so they got him in that way. Honestly, purely on footballing ability and form, Billie O'Neill should also be in this squad considering Noonan, Melia and Martin are unavailable.

So yeah, in terms of your midfielders and attackers, of the best 12 players - we have 1 available.

We've called up Ethan Simunyu, an academy footballer for a lower level spanish team, who's never represented us at any level before (although he has represented Ireland internationally playing tennis) despite not making any of the warm up squads or the u18s or anything else, which probably speaks to the situation.

[elatedscum]

Still could sneak 2nd place. Cyprus and Kazakhstan should be beatable...

[EalingGreen]

Joe Sheridan played for us in September and then was called up by NI U21 in October and played 1 minute vs Malta, meaning he'd need to go through an association change to play for us. As soon as he played that single minute against Malta, he was dropped from the squad for the second game and is with their u19s this camp.

Not what it seems.

From memory, he was only called up to the U-21's from the U-19's after a couple of the U-21's were called up for the Senior squad last minute, to cover injuries and withdrawals etc. But this had eased by the time of the second (Senior) game, so he was available/allowed to revert to the U-19's.

As for tieing him etc, if anything, that brief appearance vs Malta could actually work against us. For if he subsequently opts to represent ROI at a recognised level, then that would mean his using up his one permitted switch. Whereas without the Malta cap, he could still have represented ROI officially, while retaining the option to switch (back) to NI.

And let's face it, like all such duals he must have more chance of a long term international career with NI than ROI (force of numbers), so would be wise not to squander the option.