OK, just to temper expectations a little, our U17s and U19s have just got out of their qualifying round groups, which is something they do fairly regularly - getting through an elite round is another matter altogether. Our U21s have yet to face Germany in a group where there will be only one guaranteed qualifier and only the best four second-place teams will go into a play-off. Also successful underage teams haven't always led to a flood of new internationals - for example only two members of the 2011 U19 finals squad have played for the first team (Hendrick and Egan) and only three others (Doherty, Williams and Carruthers) could harbour any realistic hope of appearing in the National Senior Squad in the future.
That said, there is cause for optimism - the U21s have made their best start to a qualifying campaign EVER. Aaron Connolly was the top scorer overall in last year's u17 qualifying campaign with 7, while Adam Idah is top scorer this year so far, having matched Connolly's mark of seven in the qualifying round alone - if the U17s qualify for the second time in a row, that would be an indication of a systematic improvement, rather than just a good run for one group of players. We had a number of young players make first-team breakthroughs last season and it looks like a few more are on the verge this season.
And particularly up front we seem to have a lot of promising youngsters working their way through the English underage system - just for some perspective, IIRC a few years ago we were talking about 5 young strikers we were hoping would make their mark - Drennan, Burke, O'Brien, Maguire and Mason. And although it has taken a little while, it looks like two of those (Maguire and O'Brien) will be squad members when the next qualifying campaign starts. Right now there are about a dozen Irish striking prospects going through the English academy system who are worth keeping an eye on: Grego-Cox, McDonagh, Metz, Afolabi, Hale, McAuley, Obafemi, Parrott, Okoflex (if we keep him), Cassidy, Ayoola, Connolly, Roache, Idah. And while a few of them may not go on to play at senior international level, if even four or five do make it, that could leave us very strong up front in the coming years. Plus there are probably youngsters who have yet to emerge, maybe a couple of young LOI strikers will also make the grade.
So while it will take a few years before we can start talking realistically about a "golden generation", the future is starting to look bright
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