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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. 

Our U16 side completed their 2018 Victory Shield campaign with a scoreless draw against Scotland at the home of Tralee Dynamos FC in Cahermoneen this Friday afternoon. Ireland dominated much of the contest but could not find the finishing touch to secure victory. Head Coach Paul Osam was quite effusive in his praise of the players who recovered from their opening day defeat by Northern Ireland to defeat Wales, which coupled with this afternoon’s draw sees them finish in second place.

Manager Martin O’Neill presided over another dismal display from his Ireland selection in tonight’s friendly encounter with Northern Ireland, which ended scoreless in the Aviva Stadium. Veteran midfielder Glenn Whelan captained Ireland on his 85th appearance and was far from the weakest performer during his thirty five minutes on the pitch. Our Northern Ireland visitors were much superior in every position save goalkeeper, where ‘Man of the Match’ Darren Randolph was Ireland’s saviour with three exceptional saves. It is difficult to find some positives from this evening’s efforts, save that injury returnees Robbie Brady and Seamus Coleman completed ninety minutes, which should aid their return to full fitness. Playing on an unfamiliar left hand side, John Egan was the best of the three centre backs, with Shane Duffy not at his best and Darragh Lenihan disappointing. In midfield, Conor Hourihane replaced the aforementioned Whelan and together with Jeff Hendrick was anonymous throughout. Brady showed his rustiness, perhaps not surprising following his lengthy injury absence, but did deliver some excellent free kicks and corners. Wing backs Seamus Coleman and James McClean offered little, with the latter being particularly disappointing. Lone striker Callum Robinson battled gamely but without real support could offer little while Callum O’Dowda shipped some heavy early tackles and was withdrawn at half-time. Save for Randolph, the only other positive on the night was the substitute appearance of Ronan Curtis, who replaced O’Dowda and provided more vim and vigour coupled with decent technical ability than the majority of his team mates. Sean Maguire was introduced from the bench on sixty six minutes but only survived for twelve minutes before a hamstring injury forced his substitution and absence from the Denmark match on Monday evening. Enda Stevens was also a sixty sixth minute left wing back substitute and brought some improvement to that area of the pitch. Michael Obafemi was confined to the substitute bench, perhaps no bad thing on the night, given the general poverty of performance. In his post match interview, Martin O’Neill did hint at the possibility of the young Southampton striker seeing some game time in Aarhus on Monday evening.  

Every form of media outlet involved with Irish football is currently awash with the Michael Obafemi story. Manager Martin O’Neill stated at yesterday’s press conference that the eighteen year old Southampton striker would be considered for selection in the friendly encounter with Northern Ireland this evening but would not be involved in the competitive Denmark encounter on Monday night as the triple nation qualified teenager might need time to consider his international position. There followed a whole plethora of on line comment and observation, some of which was of a quite vitriolic bent. Michael’s representatives have this morning announced that the youngster was committed to Ireland and at no time had consideration been given to representing another country. We await the next stage of this very avoidable debacle with some trepidation. We can but hope that Michael is Aarhus and not Southampton bound on Saturday. 

Our U18 side defeated Belgium by two goals to one in their opening contest of the Invitation Tournament taking place in Murcia, Spain this week. Ireland took an early lead through Glasgow Celtic midfielder Barry Coffey, who captained the side today. Belgium equalised on the half-hour mark  through a penalty but Ireland won this very competitive encounter with their second half penalty, converted by Aston Villa striker Tyriek Wright.In the other opening fixture, Holland and England played out a two all draw.
We next face England, again in the Pinatar Arena, at 1pm (Irish time) on Saturday afternoon.