Category: Latest News

Martin O’Neill and his management team of Roy Keane, Steve Guppy and Seamus McDonagh have departed the Ireland set-up. The announcement was made this morning with the decision described in the standard fashion as ‘mutual agreement’.  Defence coach Steve Walford had previously moved on for personal reasons. The announcement was made this morning and followed a meeting, believed to be in London, last evening between Chief Executive John Delaney and O’Neill. The standard acknowledgements have been made by the Association and the search for a new manager is now set in motion.

Head Coach Jason Donohue gave the latest batch of young Irish talent their U15 International debuts against Poland in Kolobrzeg this Tuesday afternoon. The fledglings gave a polished first half performance and scored the only goal through Ben Quinn after twenty five minutes. The hosts provided a stiffer challenge in the second half but Ireland stayed calm and resilient under pressure and fully deserved their victory.
The two sides will meet again at 11am on Thursday morning in Ploty.

Team: Lee Morris (Malahide United); Tom Fogarty (Birmingham City), Ben Curtis (Bohemian), Darragh Reilly (Sligo Rovers), Cian Kelly (Bohemian); Glory Nzinga [c](Cherry Orchard), Luke McGlynn (Finn Harps), Jamie Mullins (Bohemian); Sean Fitzpatrick (Wexford FC), Evan Ferguson (Bohemian), Ben Quinn (Cherry Orchard)
Substitutes:
Aaron Mannix (Douglas Hall)
Craig King (Cherry Orchard) for Fogarty 55′
Aaron O’Reilly (St Patrick’s Athletic) for King 70′
John Ryan (Shamrock Rovers) for Quinn 80’+3′
John Joe Power (Burton Albion) for Mullins 55′
Conor Campbell (Finn Harps) for Fitzpatrick 55′
Michael Leddy (Shamrock rovers) for Ferguson 75′

    

Ireland played out a scoreless draw with Denmark in Aarhus this evening in the final match of their 2018 UEFA Nations League campaign. While one can not dismiss a clean sheet away from home against superior opposition, the match again highlighted the many shortcomings of the team and management. Ireland did not have a shot on goal and rarely even entered the Danish penalty area throughout the match. The hosts had numerous opportunities to test goalkeeper Darren Randolph but were very much off kilter, indeed passing up two simple opportunities within six metres of goal. The possession statistics of 75%/25% tell their own story. The Irish back three did look more reliable than Dublin on Thursday last, with Shane Duffy much improved alongside the reasonably solid Kevin Long but Richard Keogh on the right hand side gave cause for concern. Jeff Hendrick was deployed in the unfamiliar holding midfield role and while he made few mistakes he was largely anonymous and his nomination as Ireland’s ‘man of the match’ is hugely questionable. Cyrus Christie was again deployed in an unfamiliar midfield role and whilst game and energetic was quite lost in the midfield arts. Robbie Brady is just returning from a lengthy injury absence and is still a long way from full fitness and it showed. Captain Seamus Coleman performed assiduously and was arguably our best player while Enda Stevens on the left flank was reasonably competent. Callum O’Dowda, played the supporting striker role behind Aiden O’Brien and while both offered huge endeavour they were totally isolated and unable to contribute anything in an attacking vein. Substitute forwards Ronan Curtis and Callum Robinson joined the fray on sixty five minutes and suffered the same fate as their predecessors while teenager Michael Obafemi made his debut on eighty minutes and had little or no chance to make any relevant contribution.  

Manager Martin O’Neill has named his starting eleven for this evening’s UEFA Nations League contest with Denmark in Aarhus. The formation appears to be 3-5-1-1 with Cyrus Christie again being located in a central midfield role.
Team: D Randolph; R Keogh, S Duffy, K Long; S Coleman (C), C Christie, J Hendrick, R Brady, E Stevens; C O’Dowda; A O’Brien

Our U18 side completed their involvement in the invitation Quadrangular Tournament played at the Pinatar Arena, Murcia in southern Spain this afternoon with a one nil victory over Holland. The winning goal, scored by Norwich City striker Adam Idah, came on sixty minutes. Ireland finish as runners-up to England who defeated the Czech Republic by three goals to one later this afternoon.  

Ireland went down to a three one defeat by England in their second contest at the Murcia Tournament in Spain early this Saturday afternoon. Half time substitute Adam Idah gave Ireland the lead three minutes after the re-start but England responded with a brace of goals on 75 and 79 minutes and rounded things off with a third in added  time. Despite the defeat, Head Coach Jim Crawford expressed satisfaction with much of the performance delivered by his charges. Belgium and Holland played out a two all draw in the other contest later in the afternoon.
Ireland will complete their challenge against Holland at 4pm on Monday afternoon with Belgium and England meeting at the same time.  

There have been a number of adjustments to the Irish squad which departs for Aarhus, where we face Denmark on Monday evening. It is confirmed that Michael Obafemi will travel and he will be joined by U21 defender Jimmy Dunne and fellow defender and U19 captain Lee O’Connor. It was already known that Glenn Whelan and James McClean (suspended) would not travel and they have been joined by injury victims Alan Browne (shoulder), John Egan (calf) and Sean Maguire (hamstring) who have all returned to their clubs for treatment.