News

Following the International break, the Championship resumed on Friday night with bottom side Ipswich Town going down to a two one home defeat at Portman Road to West Bromwich Albion who moved into second place on the table. The hosts were without injured loanee Jonathan Walters while youngsters Barry Cotter, Aaron Drinan and Shane McLoughlin have not featured since the departure of former manager Mick McCarthy. The visiting ‘Baggies’ included veteran Wes Hoolihan on their substitute bench while promising centre back Dara O’Shea is currently on loan at Exeter City. 

The mass of media outlets are reporting that the appointment of the new Republic of Ireland manager to replace Martin O’Neill may be quite imminent with hot favourite Mick McCarthy believed to be meeting with members of the the FAI Board this weekend. It has also been reported that Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny may be interviewed in relation to the post amid suggestions that they are the only two candidates being considered. It is believed that the speed of the process is dictated by the fact that the draw for the Qualifying Stage of the 2020 UEFA European Championship is set to take place at the Convention Centre in Dublin on Sunday the 2nd December 2018.

Our U15 side, making their second international appearance, went down to a four two defeat by hosts Poland in Ploty this Thursday morning. The sides exchanged four goals in the first half with Ireland equalising twice through Michael Leddy. The hosts proved too strong in the second half scoring a further two goals without reply. Head Coach Jason Donohue expressed satisfaction with the performance of the eighteen international debutants over the course of the two games in Poland. 

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