Category: Latest News

Our Republic of Ireland U21 side continue preparations for their upcoming European Championship qualifying contest with Sweden set for Tallaght Stadium at 8pm next Tuesday evening. Captain Jayson Molumby and new senior international Lee O’Connor return to the squad following their suspension for the Armenia contest on Thursday last and will be joined by Conor Masterson who missed that match through injury. Central defender Dara O’Shea will miss the Sweden  match through suspension following his red card in Yerevan.

Updated Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gavin Bazunu(Manchester City), Conor Kearns(UCD), 
Defenders: Nathan Collins(Stoke City), Kameron Ledwidge(Southampton), Conor Masterson(QPR), Danny McNamara(Newport County on loan from Millwall), Lee O’Connor(Glasgow Celtic), Thomas O’Connor(Gillingham on loan from Southampton), Corey O’Keefe(Macclesfield Town on loan from Birmingham City), Dara O’Shea(West Bromwich Albion), Liam Scales(UCD), 
Midfielders: Jack Clarke(Aston Villa), Conor Coventry(West Ham United), Jason Knight(Derby County), Daniel Mandroiu(Bohemian), Jayson Molumby(Millwall on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Connor Ronan(DAC Dunajska Streda on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jack Taylor(Barnet)
Wingers: Zackary Elbouzedi(Waterford), Danny Grant(Bohemian), Gavin Kilkenny(AFC Bournemouth), Simon Power(Ross County on loan from Norwich City) 
Forwards:  Adam Idah(Norwich City), Aidan Keena(Heart of Midlothian), Anthony Scully(West Ham United).

              P  W  D  L   F  A   Pts
Ireland       6  4  1  1   8  2   13
Italy         4  3  1  0   9  0   10
Iceland       5  3  0  2  10  9    9
Sweden        3  2  0  1   9  3    6
Armenia       5  1  0  4   3  9    3
Luxembourg    5  0  0  5   0 16    0

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Derrick Williams, who picked up a calf strain in last night’s win over New Zealand, is ruled out of contention for the crucial UEFA European Championship qualifier against Denmark on Monday evening and has returned to his club Blackburn Rovers. Young defender Lee O’Connor, who was suspended for the U21 victory in Armenia, has returned to the U21 squad for their crucial contest with Sweden. 

The expected Friday evening victories for Denmark (6-0 Gibraltar) and Switzerland (1-0 Georgia) mean that Ireland must defeat the Danes in order to claim second place and progress to the multi- located Championship Finals next summer. A one goal victory will suffice provided that the Gibraltar v Switzerland match does not end in a draw. Should that scenario occur, then Ireland will require a two goal margin of victory over Denmark.

                      P  W  D  L   F   A   G/D  Pts
Denmark               7  4  3  0  22   5   17   15
Switzerland           7  4  2  1  13   5    8   14
Republic of Ireland   7  3  3  1   6   4    2   12
Georgia               8  2  2  4   7  11   -4    8
Gibraltar             7  0  0  7   2  25  -23    0

Our U19 side crushed Gibraltar by thirteen goals to nil in their second Group Ten European Championship qualifier on Saturday in Austria. The defeat by Switzerland in our opening encounter left no room for error if we were to retain hope of progressing to the Elite Stage of the Championship qualifiers but in reality that was never likely against a very poor Gibraltar. The five players who took no part in the opening fixture all started this afternoon. Aston Villa striker Tyreik Wright opened the scoring after six minutes and went on to score three further goals while seven of his colleagues also found the net.

The other Group 10 contest saw hosts Austria defeat Switzerland by two goals to one and with the Swiss expected to demolish Gibraltar in their final match, Ireland must defeat Austria by more than one goal in order to progress to the next Elite Stage.

Goalscorers:
Tyriek Wright 6′,47′,54′,88′
Lewis Richards 15′
Andrew Omobamidele 23′
Jamie Bowden 25′,73′
Mark McGuinness 55′
Ross Tierney 61′
Tom Cannon 62′
o.g. 87′
Ryan Cassidy 90’+3′

Team; Sean Bohan; Timi Sobowale, Andrew Omobamidele, Oisin McEntee(C), Lewis Richards; Barry Coffey; Ross Tierney, Jamie Bowden; Alex Gilbert, Tom Cannon, Tyriek Wright
Substitutes:
Mark McGuinness for McEntee 46′
Armstrong Okoflex for Cannon 67′
Ryan Cassidy for Coffey 68′
Conor Noss for Gilbert 80′
Festy Ebosele for Bowden 90′

Squad
Goalkeepers: Sean Bohan(Bohemian), Jimmy Corcoran(Preston North End)
Defenders: Oisin McEntee(Newcastle United), Mark McGuinness(Arsenal), Mazeed Ogungbo(Arsenal), Andrew Omobamidele(Norwich City), Lewis Richards(Wolverhampton Wanderers), Timi Sobowale(Manchester City)
Midfielders: Jamie Bowden(Tottenham Hotspur), Barry Coffey(Glasgow Celtic), Festy Ebosele(Derby County), Conor Noss(Borussia Monchengladbach), Adam O’Reilly(Preston North End), Ross Tierney(Bohemian)
Forwards: Tom Cannon(Everton), Ryan Cassidy(Watford), Matt Everitt(Brighton & Hove Albion), Alex Gilbert(West Bromwich Albion), Armstrong Oko-Flex(Glasgow Celtic), Tyreik Wright(Aston Villa)

Head Coach Colin O’Brien saw his Republic of Ireland U17 side secure a three one victory over Montenegro in Turner’s Cross this Friday evening to qualify for the Elite Stage of the 2020 UEFA European Championship with a match to spare.

Montenegro proved stubborn opponents and repelled all of our attacks until the 57th minute when Ben McCormack made the breakthrough. Our sigh of relief lasted barely thirty seconds as our opponents scored an immediate equaliser. Ireland re-grouped and centre back Anselmo Garcia-McNulty restored the lead in the 65th minute. This time there was no relaxation and McCormack scored his second on 81 minutes to ensure victory.

Earlier in the afternoon in Cobh, Andorra whom we had thrashed six nil created quite a shock with a one nil defeat of Israel who had defeated Montenegro in their opening contest.

Ireland will next face Israel in Turner’s Cross at 2pm next Monday afternoon in their concluding fixture.

Team:
D Rose; G O’Brien (C), L Kavanagh, AG McNulty, T Adaramola; K Conway, B McCormack, C Conroy; S Armstrong, E Ferguson, R Mahon
Substitutes:
O O’Neill for Mahon 66′

Ireland secured a comfortable three one victory over New Zealand in this Thursday evening’s friendly international played in front of a  sparse Aviva Stadium attendance. While there were some interesting aspects to the match and some fine individual performances, it is very unlikely that any of the participants will have made sufficient impression to enter the starting eleven equation for Monday night’s  crucial contest with Denmark.

Foremost amongst the performances was that of holding midfielder Josh Cullen who looks ready to embrace the role currently the remit of Glenn Whelan. There were interesting performances from debutant Lee O’Connor and fellow full back Derrick Williams while Jack Byrne and Alan Browne provided some neat but irregular touches. Captain  Robbie Brady was deployed on the right side of the attacking trio with Sean Maguire on the left, which surprised as both prefer and operate for their clubs on the opposite flanks. In Brady‘s case, perhaps an audition for that slot on Monday evening.

Ireland opened brightly and dominated early proceedings and it came as quite a shock when the visitors took the lead on thirty minutes through debutant Callum McCowatt with a well crafted goal. Ireland maintained their composure and equalised on the stroke of half-time with a powerful Derrick Williams header from a Robbie Brady corner, the Waterford man’s first goal for his country. Seven minutes into the second period Sean Maguire also scored his first international goal with a stunning strike following a pass from Troy Parrott. The hat-trick of debut goals was completed on 75 minutes when substitute Callum Robinson powered home a header following a delicious cross from Lee O’Connor.

Ireland made six second half substitutions, the first of them after 56 minutes being somewhat surprising as Callum O’Dowda replaced Derrick Williams in the left back position. The other substitutions were all fairly normal like for like changes.

Team: Kieran O’Hara; Lee O’Connor, Kevin Long, Ciaran Clark, Derrick Williams; Alan Browne, Josh Cullen, Jack Byrne; Robbie Brady (C), Troy Parrott, Sean Maguire.
Substitutes:
Callum O’Dowda for Williams 56′
Alan Judge for Byrne 63′
Callum Robinson for Parrott 63′
Conor Hourihane for Browne 66′
Mark Travers for O’Hara 66′
James Collins for Maguire 73′

Our Republic of Ireland U21 side secured another three valuable points with a one nil victory over Armenia in Yerevan at noon (4pm local time) on Thursday in their 2021 European Championship qualifying encounter. Despite the absence of 12 players who would normally be expected to feature in the squad, Head Coach Stephen Kenny, his coaching team of Keith Andrews, Jim Crawford and new goalkeeping coach Rene Gilmartin together with the playing squad all exuded an air of anticipation and confidence prior to the contest.

Their faith in their depleted squad was justified with Ireland being dominant for the majority of the contest. The winning goal, scored by Waterford winger Zach Elbouzedi, arrived after 63 minutes with our failure to add to the scoreline being the only concern. There was, understandably, a degree of nervousness attaching to the final eighteen minutes, following the receipt of a straight red card for captain Dara O’Shea which rules him out of the meeting with Sweden in Tallaght Stadium next Tuesday evening. 

Gavin Bazunu made his debut in goals and was relatively untroubled while captain Dara O’Shea was joined in the back four by three further debutants, Nathan Collins, Danny McNamara and Thomas O’Connor all of whom coped comfortably. The midfield was anchored by the ever reliable Conor Coventry with Jason Knight lending his support. The skilful Connor Ronan was at the heart of our attacking options with wide players Gavin Kilkenny and goalscorer Elbouzedi also prominent. Adam Idah was the fulcrum of our attacking options and delivered an industrious performance.

Team: Gavin Bazunu; Danny McNamara, Nathan Collins, Dara O’Shea (C), Thomas O’Connor; Conor Coventry, Jason Knight; Gavin Kilkenny, Connor Ronan, Zack Elbouzedi; Adam Idah
Substitutes:
Liam Scales for Ronan 77′
Jack Taylor for Kilkenny 81′
Aidan Keena for Idah 86′

Revised Squad:

Goalkeepers: Gavin Bazunu(Manchester City), Conor Kearns(UCD), 
Defenders: Nathan Collins(Stoke City), Kameron Ledwidge(Southampton), Danny McNamara(Newport County on loan from Millwall), Thomas O’Connor(Gillingham on loan from Southampton), Corey O’Keefe(Macclesfield Town on loan from Birmingham City), Dara O’Shea(West Bromwich Albion), Liam Scales(UCD), 
Midfielders: Jack Clarke(Aston Villa), Conor Coventry(West Ham United), Jason Knight(Derby County), Daniel Mandroiu(Bohemian), Connor Ronan(DAC Dunajska Streda on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers), Jack Taylor(Barnet)
Wingers: Zackary Elbouzedi(Waterford), Danny Grant(Bohemian), Gavin Kilkenny(AFC Bournemouth), Simon Power(Ross County on loan from Norwich City) 
Forwards:  Adam Idah(Norwich City), Aidan Keena(Heart of Midlothian), Anthony Scully(West Ham United).

              P  W  D  L   F  A   Pts
Ireland       6  4  1  1   8  2   13
Iceland       4  3  0  1  10  6    9
Italy         3  2  1  0   6  0    7
Sweden        3  2  0  1   9  3    6
Armenia       5  1  0  4   3  9    3
Luxembourg    5  0  0  5   0 16    0

 

Republic of Ireland Manager Mick McCarthy has made an unusually early announcement of his starting eleven for tomorrow evening’s friendly international against New Zealand in the Aviva Stadium.

With a view  perhaps to increase interest and attendance, the debut starts for Lee O’Connor and Troy Parrott together with the inclusion of  PFAI  ‘Player of the Year’  Jack Byrne were already confirmed.   
Team:
Kieran O’Hara; Lee O’Connor, Kevin Long, Ciaran Clark, Derrick Williams; Alan Browne, Josh Cullen, Jack Byrne; Sean Maguire, Troy Parrott, Robbie Brady(C)