News

Ireland manager Mick McCarthy today named his revised twenty three man squad for the upcoming European Championship Qualifier against Gibraltar on Saturday the 23rd March 2019. The squad initially included Preston North End midfielder Alan Browne and Portsmouth striker Ronan Curtis but both have been forced to withdraw through injury. They have been replaced in the squad by Kevin Long and Josh Cullen who was not named in the original thirty eight man squad.

Following the announcement by Stephen Ward of his retirement from international football other notable absentees from the revised squad include Cyrus Christie, Scott Hogan, James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady. With the exception of McGeady, the other three have seen little front line action and their omission is not surprising. Also amongst the omissions are Daryl Horgan, David Meyler, Aiden O’Brien and Shaun Williams, none of whom come as a real surprise.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph(Middlesbrough), Mark Travers(AFC Bournemouth), Keiren Westwood(Sheffield Wednesday)
Defenders: Seamus Coleman(Everton), Matt Doherty(Wolverhampton Wanderers), Shane Duffy(Brighton & Hove Albion), John Egan(Sheffield United), Richard Keogh(Derby County), Kevin Long(Burnley), Enda Stevens(Sheffield United)
Midfielders: Harry Arter(Cardiff City-on loan from AFC Bournemouth), Robbie Brady(Burnley), Josh Cullen(Charlton Athletic-on loan from West Ham United), Jeff Hendrick(Burnley), Conor Hourihane(Aston Villa), Alan Judge(Ipswich Town), James McClean(Stoke City), Callum O’Dowda(Bristol City), Glenn Whelan(Aston Villa)
Forwards: James Collins(Luton Town), Shane Long(Southampton), Sean Maguire(Preston North End), David McGoldrick(Sheffield United) 

 

 

The Airtricity League Premier Division continued this Friday evening with all ten teams contesting match series six. Current leaders  Shamrock Rovers maintained their position with a three nil victory over Sligo Rovers in Tallaght Stadium while Dundalk superseded  Bohemian in second place with a two nil success over Derry City in the Brandywell while the ‘Gypsies’ went down to a two nil defeat by Cork City in Turner’s Cross. Promoted duo UCD and Finn Harps renewed acquaintance at the Bowl where the ‘Students’ cruised  to a three nil victory to leapfrog their opponents at the foot of the league table. Waterford secured a two nil success over visitors St Patrick’s  Athletic in the RSC.

                            P  W  D  L   F   A  G/D  Pts
Shamrock Rovers             7  5  1  1  11   2   9    16
Dundalk                     6  3  3  0  10   3   7    12
Bohemian                    6  3  2  1   5   3   2    11  
Cork City                   6  3  1  2   8   7   1    10
Derry City                  6  2  2  2   7   7   –     8
St Patrick’s Athletic       6  2  2  2   3   4  -1     8
Waterford                   6  2  1  3   7   9  -2     7
Sligo Rovers                6  2  1  3   5   8  -3     7
UCD                         6  1  1  4   5   9  -4     4
Finn Harps                  7  0  2  5   6  15  -9     2

There were four Airtricity League First Division fixtures played on Friday evening, with Bray Wanderers being overtaken at the summit by Shelbourne, who defeated Wexford  by three goals to nil in Tolka Park, while Bray went down to a one nil home defeat by Athlone Town in the Carlisle Grounds. Drogheda United suffered a crushing four one defeat by visitors Cabinteely in United Park while Limerick overcame Cobh Ramblers by three goals to one in the Markets Field. 
Longford Town are set to welcome Galway United to the City Calling Stadium at 7.30pm on Saturday evening. 

                            P  W  D  L  F   A   G/D   Pts
Shelbourne                  4  3  0  1  10  5     5     9
Bray Wanderers              4  3  0  1   6  1     5     9
Athlone Town                4  3  0  1   6  4     2     9
Cabinteely                  4  2  1  1   8  7     1     7
Longford Town               3  1  2  0   4  1     3     5
Limerick                    4  1  2  1   3  3     –     5
Drogheda United             4  1  1  2   5  7    -2     4
Galway United               3  1  0  2   6  4     2     3
Cobh Ramblers               4  1  0  3   7  9    -2     3
Wexford                     4  0  0  4   3  17  -14     0

A number of Irish international auditions took place in the Championship on Wednesday evening. Birmingham City played host to Millwall for whom Aiden O’Brien and Shaun Williams received no opportunity to impress, remaining on the bench as their side prevailed by two goals to nil. Derby County captained by Richard Keogh locked horns with the visiting James McClean and his Stoke City colleagues at Pride Park in a contest which ended scoreless. Middlesbrough and Darren Randolph suffered a two one defeat by visitors Preston North End who included Alan Browne and Sean Maguire in their starting eleven at the Riverside Stadium. Browne was withdrawn through injury after just twenty two minutes and was replaced by Joe Rafferty who had made his debut as an added time substitute last Saturday. International retiree Daryl Murphy was a sixty second minute substitute for Nottingham Forest who went down to a three one home defeat by Aston Villa at the City Ground. Conor Hourihane started for the victors while Glenn Whelan was introduced for the final ten minutes.

Republic of Ireland U21 manager Stephen Kenny has named his first competitive squad for the upcoming 2021 European U21 Championship qualifier against Luxembourg. The match is set for Tallaght Stadium on Sunday the 24th March 2019 with a 5pm kick-off time.

SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Gavin Bazunu(Manchester City), Caoimhin Kelleher(Liverpool)
Defenders: Trevor Clarke(Shamrock Rovers), Barry Cotter(Ipswich Town), Darragh Leahy(Bohemian), Conor Masterson(Liverpool), Corey Ndaba(Ipswich Town), Lee O’Connor(Manchester United), Dara O’Shea(Exeter City-on loan from WBA), Liam Scales(UCD)
Midfielders: Conor Coventry(West Ham United), Jake Doyle-Hayes(Cambridge United-on loan from Aston Villa), Jamie Lennon(St Patrick’s Athletic), Daniel Mandroiu(Bohemian), Jayson Molumby(Brighton & Hove Albion), Connor Ronan(FC Dac 1904-on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Forwards: Aaron Drinan(Waterford-on loan from Ipswich Town), Zachery Elbouzedi(Waterford), Neil Farrugia(UCD), Adam Idah(Norwich City), Michael O’Connor(Linfield), Troy Parrott(Tottenham Hotspur), Simon Power(FC Dordrecht-on loan from Norwich City)

 

The draw for the second round of the 2019 EA Sports Cup was made today and is as follows:-

Bohemian v Cabinteely
Bray Wanderers v Shamrock Rovers
Cork City v Limerick/Cobh Ramblers
Derry City v Longford Town
Finn Harps v Sligo Rovers
Shelbourne v UCD
St Patrick’s Athletic v Dundalk
Waterford v Galway United

The ties are set to be played on Monday 1st/Tuesday 2nd April 2019

The Championship
Our senior management team did another round of appraisal in the Championship on Tuesday evening. Blackburn Rovers defender Derrick Williams was in action in the three nil victory over Wigan Athletic at Ewood Park while Keiren Westwood and Sheffield Wednesday secured  a two nil victory at Bolton Wanderers where teenager Luca Connell was introduced as a seventy second minute substitute for the defeated hosts. There has been recent disappointment for Bristol City and Callum O’Dowda and it continued this evening as basement side Ipswich Town held their hosts to a one all draw at Ashton Gate. O’Dowda was introduced as a seventy third minute substitute while  visiting midfielder Alan Judge was withdrawn after seventy five minutes.  Sheffield United maintained their promotion challenge with a two nil success over visitors Brentford at Bramall Lane despite playing for an hour with ten men following the dismissal of Gary Madine.  John Egan, Enda Stevens and Aston Villa loanee Scott Hogan started for the ‘Blades’, with Hogan replaced by David McGoldrick at half-time. McGoldrick then scored the second goal on eighty four minutes.

League One
League One promotion challengers Barnsley and Sunderland played out a scoreless draw at Oakwell on Tuesday evening with Burnley loanee Jimmy Dunne and veteran Aiden McGeady in the ‘Makems’ starting eleven. Current leaders Luton Town scored  the only goal at Bradford City to extend their lead at the summit but striker James Collins did not add to his current twenty goal tally this season. Midfielder Josh Cullen, our U21 captain last season, who is on loan at Charlton Athletic from West Ham United has also been performing well with another promotion challenger and he was in action in their two one success over visitors Burton Albion.

Premier League
Burnley travelled to face Liverpool at Anfield in the Premier League at noon on Sunday and suffered a four two defeat. Jeff Hendrick has been a regular starter in recent weeks for the ‘Clarets’ and started again with Robbie Brady an unused substitute. Stephen Ward and Kevin Long have seen little or no action in recent weeks and were again absent from the matchday squad. Wolverhampton Wanderers and Matt Doherty journied to London where they secured a one all draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Championship
The high noon Championship clash of Birmingham City and Aston Villa at St Andrew’s Stadium was another feisty affair with the intrusion of a spectator who perpetrated a cowardly assault on an unsuspecting Jack Grealish casting a shadow over the occasion. That Villa collected all three points with Grealish scoring the only goal was perhaps a form of justice. Lukas Jutkiewicz started for the hosts and gave an excellent performance. If, as suggested, he is indeed qualified  to play for Ireland then perhaps we should be making the relevant overtures. Conor Hourihane and Glenn Whelan both started for the visiting ‘Villans’ and performed admirably.