UCD have no current internationals in their team in fact I cannot remember the last time a UCD student other than Katie Taylor made an international soccer squad. How they can overlook the likes of Mary Waldron and Sylvia Gee is amazing to me personally.
I'd have to agree with you there CTID, and after all, UCD have been the best team in the country for the past few years.
I think the focus with the international team seems to be: we'll blood teenagers. That's fine, but they also need to introduce or re-introduce slightly older players
Here here. Definately two great players. And just two of those out there who have been overlooked. But i dont beleive there is any point playing older players to get a mix of youth and experience. It should just be a team that has players with the ability to mix it up at international level. Yes loyalty goes without saying to Kinger when it comes to senior players and players he has been coaching for the last 10 years. But we all know that at least 50% of our senior squad could be dropped straight away and be replaced by players who are much more capable of doing the job.
I have to agree with Ripple here... There are so many players out there who, like you said have much more ability than some players currently on the senior team... Its a tricky one as experience and loyality are important in my opinion, however there needs to be a balance regards ability, fitness, skill.... Ideally every player should have all these qualities, I know that is very rare however surely if the next couple of years rae used as a "building period" by "blooding teenagers" as mentioned, then all the current squad should be young enough now to ensure that they will be still around and, in fact in, still their prime in a few yrs time, after the building have been completed and not be retiring as many current players will/may be...
What is the point in these players being part of the building up process, if they aren't going to be around to be part of the final product meaning that once again new players need to be built up....
Just in response to Countryripple, I wasn't saying put in older players for the sake of it, I agree that the best player should always be picked irrespective of age. I was just saying someone shouldn't have to be a teenager to get a chance because that's just ridiculous.
Greenumbro, I think the Irish manager should be looking to plan for each campaign - Euro qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers - so squad development is over a period of 3+years, so any player selected would need to be around within that timeframe. There is no point building for more years than that
I agree with you Numero... That is what I was trying to say... Build for the next qualifiers or whatever/whenever the next upcoming tournament/competition is, however if that time is say 3 yrs, there may be certain players on the team at the moment who may only play for another yr or so before retiring.... Thereby not being around for the qualifying games or for the tournament itself... Ok, I'm not really making any sense...
I guess what I'm trying to say is if a player starts a qualifying campaign they should have the full intentions and ability to see the full tournament through(obviously once an injury etc does not occur)...
Yeah, that makes sense. I think on some occasions some players who do plan retiring should stay on as mentors, or something like that. Because some younger players coming through, irrespetive of pace and skill, might be a bit lacking in their mindet/decisions on the pitch - and players with a lot of experience generally are mentally strong
Yea, every young player needs a mentor or somebody to look up to, somebody to help them along the way (other than just their manager)...
Having said all that though, as players get older, while they may lose some of their pace or whatever, they get stonger and therefore may be able to make up for the loss in pace with the strenght and experience built up so.... It's a tough call... In my opinion, it's up to the player, as well as the manager, to decide when it is time to call it a day(on their international career anyway)...
UCD defender Niamh Connolly is currently performing better than any of the current International back four.
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