News

The belated FAI Accounts for 2018 have been published today and provide for some sorry reading. Revised accounts for 2016 and 2017 were also presented and they also made for negative enlightenment. Coupled with the withdrawal of John Foley from the interim Chief Executive position following the departure of Noel Mooney who has returned to his UEFA position, it has not been a pleasant week for the FAI.

The recently appointed FAI Vice President Paul Cooke has taken up the position of Executive Lead on an interim basis until such time as the four new independent directors are appointed to the FAI Board.  Cooke is a Chartered Accountant and the former Managing Director of The Star and the Sunday Business Post. Cooke, a noted critic of John Delaney, was elected unopposed to the FAI Board earlier this year in the then role of Treasurer, a position since abolished following publication of the Report relating to Governance Reforms. The announcement of Cooke‘s elevation was accompanied by the notation that he would be reporting to Donal Conway the current Honorary President of the FAI.

In further news, Donal Conway confirmed that he would be stepping down from the Honorary President position with effect from the EGM scheduled for the 25th January 2020 and nominations to fill the position will be required by the 28th December 2019, the revised date for the AGM.

It was further indicated that the appointment of the four new independent directors was progressing and confirmation of their identity would become known when the individuals concerned have completed their own due diligence enquiries. 

There has been significant Irish involvement in the unbroken week of Club action which followed the entry of Amazon Prime into the live broadcast market.

Friday
Ireland U21 captain Jayson Molumby was in Championship action with his loan club Millwall who played out a two all draw with Nottingham Forest at the New Den on Friday evening. Alex Pearce and Shaun Williams also started for the ‘Lions’ while Aiden O’Brien was introduced from the substitute bench on 78 minutes. Williams put the hosts in front on 15 minutes but the visitors equalised midway through the second half and took the lead with just two minutes remaining but O’Brien came to the rescue with the equaliser in the second minute of added time.

Thursday
Brighton & Hove Albion included Aaron Connolly in their starting eleven while Shane Duffy was an 88th minute substitute in their two one Premier League victory over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium this Thursday evening. The Sheffield United duo of John Egan and Enda Stevens started with David McGoldrick a 72nd minute substitute as, despite dominating much of the play, they went down to a two nil home defeat by visitors Newcastle United and Ciaran Clark at Bramall Lane. Callum Robinson was an unused substitute for the ‘Blades’.

Wednesday
The Premier League continued on Wednesday evening with Chelsea defeating visitors Aston Villa by two goals to one at Stamford Bridge. Conor Hourihane started for the visitors but was replaced after 58 minutes. Shane Long started with Michael Obafemi unused on the Southampton bench for the two one victory over visitors Norwich City. An exhaustive season to date continued for Wolverhampton Wanderers and Matt Doherty who defeated visitors West Ham United by two goals to nil at Molineaux.

The veteran Glenn Whelan may well be feeling the strain as, together with Jake Mulraney, he completed the full ninety minutes for Heart of Midlothian in their one all home draw with visitors Livingston at Tynecastle in the Scottish Premiership.

Tuesday
Crystal Palace, despite being reduced to ten men after just 19 minutes, scored  the only goal midway through the second half to defeat visitors AFC Bournemouth at Selhurst Park in the Premier League this Tuesday night. James McCarthy was introduced from the substitute bench for the second half and played his part in a resilient performance. Jeff Hendrick started for Burnley in their four one home defeat by Manchester City while Robbie Brady, introduced from the bench on 75 minutes, scored the late goal for the ‘Clarets’. Kevin Long was again omitted from the matchday squad.

Goalkeeping loanee Kieran O’Hara was in action for Burton Albion who played out a one all draw with visitors Southend United in League One this Tuesday evening. The hosts went behind early on and had John Joe O’Toole dismissed after 33 minutes but recovered to equalise and earn a point with O’Hara in fine form.

Monday
Preston North End who have stumbled in recent weeks welcomed West Bromwich Albion to Deepdale on Monday evening for a Championship encounter and suffered bitter disappointment as they went down to a 90th minute penalty kick which television replays confirmed should not have been awarded. Sean Maguire was joined by captain Alan Browne, who missed the defeat at Hull City on Wednesday night, in their starting eleven and as a consequence of their injury crisis was selected in the right back position where he performed very well. Maguire, while showing occasional neat touches was not at his best, all too frequently being outmuscled or hitting misplaced passes.

Trevor Clarke started with Chiedoze Ogbene a 54th minute substitute  for Rotherham United who travelled to non-league Solihull Motors in the second round of the FA Cup on Monday evening. The non-league hosts scored two early goals while Clarke was forced off through injury after 26 minutes. Solihull increased their lead after 62 minutes but Rotherham staged a magnificent recovery, scoring four times in the final 15 minutes to progress to the third round where they will host Hull City. Former Ireland underage international Gavin Gunning was in defence for the stunned hosts.

Sunday
The Premier League continued on Sunday afternoon with Matt Doherty starting and scoring the equaliser for Wolverhampton Wanderers in their one all draw with visitors Sheffield United and their Irish quartet of John Egan, who had recovered from injury, Enda Stevens and David McGoldrick, all of whom started with Callum Robinson a late substitute. Conor Hourihane started for Aston Villa in their two all draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Heart of Midlothian suffered a crushing five nil defeat by Glasgow Rangers in the Scottish Premiership at Ibrox Stadium where Glenn Whelan and Aidy White both started with Jake Mulraney replacing the latter on 77 minutes. There was no place in the matchday squad for our U21 striker Aiden Keena.

Alan Judge was in the Ipswich Town side which drew one each at Coventry City in the second round of the FA Cup while Thomas O’Connor, our U21 defender on loan from Southampton, was in the Gillingham side which defeated Doncaster Rovers and Kieran Sadlier by three goals to nil at Priestfield.

Saturday
First into action on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League were  Newcastle United and Manchester City who played out a two all draw in St James Park where Ciaran Clark started in the middle of the back three for the ‘Magpies’. Later in the day Burnley went down to a two nil defeat by Crystal Palace at Turf Moor where Jeff Hendrick was joined in the ‘Clarets’ starting eleven by Robbie Brady but their was no place in the matchday squad for Kevin Long. Brady was withdrawn on 77 minutes while the visitors named James McCarthy on their substitute bench where he remained. Current leaders Liverpool defeated visitors Brighton & Hove Albion by two goals to one at Anfield where Aaron Connolly started and completed 76 minutes with Shane Duffy unused on the substitute bench. U21 midfielder Gavin Kilkenny was an unused substitute for AFC Bournemouth who went down to a three two defeat at Tottenham Hotspur. In the late kick-off Southampton came from behind to defeat visitors Watford by two goals to one. The ‘Saints’ had Michael Obafemi in their starting eleven with Shane Long replacing him after 57 minutes.

The Championship featured Birmingham City at home to Millwall where Daniel Crowley retained his starting role for the hosts while Jayson Molumby was in direct opposition for the visitors as the sides played out a one all draw. Brentford crushed  Luton Town and James Collins by seven goals to nil at Griffin Park while Stoke City had James McClean back in their starting eleven following his suspension as they went down to a two one home defeat by  Blackburn Rovers for whom Darragh Lenihan retained his position in defence. Midfielder Jason Knight was named on the Derby County bench for the one all draw with visitors QPR and Ryan Manning.

Goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara and his Burton Albion colleagues travelled to face Oldham Athletic in the second round of the FA Cup and scored the only goal to progress to the third round. Ronan Curtis started for Portsmouth but was substituted at half-time of their two one victory over non-league Altrincham at Fratton Park.

 

 

The draw for the Elite Stage of the 2020 European Championship at U17 level was made today at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon and sees Ireland drawn in Group 4 alongside the Czech Republic, Scotland and Slovakia. Scotland will host the mini-tournament, with the fixtures scheduled for the 25th, 28th and 31st March 2020. The venues will be confirmed shortly. The Championship finals are scheduled for Estonia between the 21st May 2020 and the 6th June 2020.

The draw for the Qualifying Stage of the 2021 Tournament was also made with Ireland set to face Estonia, Northern Ireland and Slovakia in Group 3. The fixtures will take place on the 21st, 24th, and 27th October 2020 and Ireland will host the mini-tournament at venues to be confirmed. 

The draw for the Qualifying Stage of the 2021 U19 Championship was also made with Ireland drawn in Group 7 in company with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Estonia and Poland. The fixtures are scheduled for the 11th, 14th and 17th November 2020 and the mini-tournament will be hosted by Ireland at venues to be confirmed.

The U19 competition is set to undergo a structure change which will be implemented for the 2022 Championship. The qualification process will take place over a two year cycle with promotion and relegation being implemented during the qualifying stage. The new format will commence next Autumn and Ireland have been drawn in Group A1 with Croatia, Holland and Turkey who will host the mini-tournament on the 11th, 14th and 17th November 2020. The players participating in this competition will, at commencement, be from the U18 group and Andy Reid will be in charge of the Ireland squad.

 

The draw for the finals of the 24 nation 2020 European Championships took place in Bucharest this Saturday afternoon. The sides finishing first and second in the ten qualifying groups were already known and they will be joined by the winners of the four play-off groups which are scheduled for March 2020.

Ireland will of course contest play-off Path B with Slovakia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. Should we be successful in the daunting challenge of gaining play-off victories away to Slovakia and the winners of the Bosnia& Herzegovina v Northern Ireland semi-final then we will participate in Group E alongside fellow hosts Spain together with Poland and Sweden.

The Group E fixture schedule is as follows:

Monday 15 June 2020     Path B qualifiers v Poland     Dublin  5pm
                        Spain v Sweden                 Bilbao  8pm  
Friday 19 June 2020     Path B Qualifiers v Sweden     Dublin  2pm
Saturday 20 June 2020   Spain v Poland                 Bilbao  8pm
Wednesday 24 June 2020  Spain v Path B Qualifiers      Bilbao  5pm
                        Poland v Sweden                Dublin  5pm

The Aviva Stadium will host the Round of 16 Knock-out contest at 5pm on Tuesday the 30th June 2020 between the winners of Group D [Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Path C Qualifier] and the runners-up in Group F [France, Germany, Portugal, Path A/D Qualifier].

The draws for the 2020 Elite Stage of both The U17 and U19 European Women’s Championships were made at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon this Friday morning. The draws were also made for the qualifying stage of the 2021 Tournaments.

2020             2021               2020            2021
Women’s U17      Women’s U17        Women’s U19     Women’s U19
Elite Stage      Qualifying         Elite Stage     Qualifying
Group 3          Group 3            Group 7         Group 12
Ireland (H)      Portugal (H)       Czech Rep.(H)   Greece (H)
Austria          Ireland            England         England
Denmark          North Macedonia    Ireland         Ireland
Serbia           Wales              Norway          Kosova

March            November           April           October
23/26/29         2/5/8              8/11/14         21/24/27
.

 

 

Matt Doherty started and scored for Wolverhampton Wanderers after 34 minutes of their rain lashed Europa League Group K encounter with Sporting Braga in Portugal early this Thursday evening. The hosts took the lead very much against the run of play with a defected shot after 6 minutes but Wolves totally dominated the remainder of the first half scoring three times with Doherty‘s thumping header being the second goal. Wolves dominated the early stages of the second half but were unable to add to their total and paid the penalty as the hosts scored twice in the latter stages to secure a three all draw. The result does however mean that both sides progress to the next stage of the competition.

Glasgow Celtic, who had already qualified for the next stage, played host to French side Rennes with an 8pm kick-off in Celtic Park and secured a comfortable three one victory. Injury ruled Jonny Hayes out of the matchday squad.

 

There was further Championship action this Wednesday evening with  West Bromwich Albion regaining their position at the summit with a four one victory over visitors Bristol City at the Hawthorns. Callum O’Dowda started in a left wing back position for the visitors but was forced off through injury after 39 minutes. Blackburn Rovers had Darragh Lenihan in defence for their one nil victory over  visitors Brentford at Ewood Park. Preston North End had Sean Maguire in their starting eleven as they crashed to a four nil defeat at Hull City.  Ryan Manning was in action for QPR who suffered a four nil home defeat by Nottingham Forest at Loftus Road. Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City played out a one all draw, with Daniel Crowley in midfield action for the visitors at Hillsborough.