News

The Premier League resumed this weekend following the international break.

Monday
Conor Hourihane was an unused substitute for Aston Villa who played out a scoreless draw with visitors West Ham United at Villa Park on Monday evening.

Sunday
Captain Seamus Coleman and his Everton colleagues suffered a three one defeat in a disappointing performance at AFC Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday
The 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday afternoon saw Liverpool defeat Newcastle United by three goals to one with Ciaran Clark an unused substitute for the visiting ‘Magpies’. Shane Duffy was restored to the Brighton & Hove Albion starting eleven for the visit of Burnley while Aaron Connolly was introduced from the bench on eighty four minutes as the visitors scored an added time equaliser through fifty ninth minute substitute Jeff Hendrick. Recent injury absentee Robbie Brady was an unused substitute. The Sheffield United trio of John Egan, Enda Stevens and David McGoldrick started with Callum Robinson a late substitute in their one nil defeat by visitors Southampton for whom Shane Long was an added time substitute, but injury ruled out Michael Obafemi. Tottenham Hotspur crushed South London rivals Crystal Palace by four goals to nil at their new Stadium. James McCarthy was a seventy sixth minute substitute for the vanquished ‘Eagles’. Having recovered from minor surgery, Matt Doherty was a fifty sixth minute substitute for Wolverhampton Wanderers who went down to a five two defeat by visitors Chelsea at Molineaux. 

Championship

The Championship resumed at Pride Park on Friday evening when Derby County, with captain Richard Keogh and unused substitute Jason Knight in their ranks, played out a one all draw with visitors Cardiff City.

On Saturday afternoon, Ewood Park witnessed quite an Irish collection when hosts Blackburn Rovers, with Greg Cunningham, Daragh Lenihan and Derrick Williams in their starting eleven, defeated visitors Millwall by two goals to nil. The ‘Lions’  included Alex Pearce and loanee Jayson Molumby, our U21 captain, in their starting eleven while Aiden O’Brien and Shaun Williams were unused substitutes. Josh Cullen, ‘man of the match’ on his senior international debut last Tuesday night, was in his usual midfield position for loan club Charlton Athletic who went down to an unexpected one nil home defeat by  Birmingham City and the much touted Dan Crowley at The Valley. Darren Randolph and Middlesbrough secured a one nil victory over visitors Reading. Alan Browne and Sean Maguire both started for Preston North End as did Joe Rafferty in their two nil victory over visitors Brentford with Maguire opening the scoring after four minutes. Ryan Manning retained his new left wing back position for QPR who defeated Luton Town by three goals to two at Loftus Road. Midweek international debutant and goalscorer James Collins scored one of the ‘Hatters’ goals. Under 21 defender and another midweek goalscorer Conor Masterson is still seeking a breakthrough for QPR. James McClean started for Stoke City and loanee Scott Hogan was a late substitute as they went down to a two one defeat by visitors Bristol City for whom Callum O’Dowda was an unused substitute.

League One

Midweek international debutant goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara was in action for loan club Burton Albion who played out a scoreless draw with visitors Coventry City while Alan Judge started for Ipswich Town in another scoreless draw with visitors Doncaster Rovers.

 

The Airtricity League Premier Division continued on Friday evening, but with Derry City and Dundalk contesting the EA Sports Cup Final on Saturday evening, there were just three fixtures.
Third place Bohemian went down to a two one defeat by Waterford in Dalymount Park with RTE 2 bringing live coverage of the match. St Patrick’s Athletic, with new manager Stephen O’Donnell at the helm, were held to a scoreless draw by UCD in Richmond Park while Sligo Rovers defeated North West rivals Finn Harps by three goals to one  in the Showgrounds.

                            P   W  D  L   F   A   G/D   Pts
Dundalk                    29  22  5  2  62  13   49    71
Shamrock Rovers            30  20  4  6  53  18   35    64
Bohemian                   31  14  7 10  42  26   16    49
Derry City                 30  12 11  7  45  29   16    47
St Patrick’s Athletic      30  12  8 10  24  27   -3    44
Sligo Rovers               31   9 11 11  34  41   -7    38
Waterford                  31   9  7 15  38  49  -11    34
Cork City                  29   7  9 13  25  38  -13    30
Finn Harps                 30   6  5 19  24  57  -33    23
UCD                        31   5  3 23  21  70  -49    18

Shelbourne are Airtricity League First Division Champions. They defeated second place Drogheda United by three goals to one in United Park this Friday evening to go six points clear with just one round of fixtures remaining. Play-off candidates Cabinteely defeated Athlone Town by three goals to one at Stradbrook while Galway United crushed Cobh Ramblers, who had two players dismissed, by seven goals to one at the Eamonn Deacy Stadium. Troubled Limerick secured a four one victory over Wexford in the Markets Field.

On Saturday evening third place Longford Town suffered a two one home defeat by Bray Wanderers in the City Calling Stadium.

                            P   W  D  L   F   A    G/D   Pts
Shelbourne [Champions]     26  18  3  5  43  19    24    57
Drogheda United            26  16  3  7  58  32    26    51         
Longford Town              26  15  3  8  38  22    16    48
Cabinteely                 26  13  8  5  37  27    10    47
Bray Wanderers             26  13 4   9  40  25    15    43
Limerick                   26  10  6 10  33  34    -1    36 
Cobh Ramblers              26   8  7 11  37  47   -10    31
Galway United              26   7  3 16  33  41    -8    24
Athlone Town               26   5  4 17  29  59   -30    19
Wexford                    26   2  5 20  21  63   -42    11

Mick McCarthy made ten changes to the starting eleven for this evening’s friendly international against Bulgaria in the Aviva Stadium.
He had already confirmed that Conor Hourihane would start at left back, a position that will require a new face when we visit Georgia next month as regular occupant Enda Stevens is suspended for that match.
The remaining ten places were filled by the back-up players with the captain’s armband going to Sheffield United centre back John Egan.
There were debut starts for goalkeeper Mark Travers and midfielder Josh Cullen whose neat and tidy play earned him the ‘man of the match’ accolade. There were also first caps for another goalkeeper  Kieran O’Hara who replaced Travers on 75 minutes, midfielder Jack Byrne and striker James Collins who scored the third goal.

Ireland opened the scoring on 56 minutes with Alan Browne having an easy tap in following a goalkeeping fumble. The visitors equalised from the penalty spot some 10 minutes later following poor defensive play by Cyrus Christie but Ireland responded with a thumping Kevin Long header following an excellent Jack Byrne corner and Byrne was also the initial creator in the build-up to the third goal converted by Collins following an exquisite cross from Stevens.

A not too frantic exercise with just Cullen, Curtis, Egan and Collins making any significant impact.

Team: M Travers; C Christie, K Long, J Egan(C), C Hourihane; C O’Dowda, A Brown, A Judge, J Cullen, R Curtis; S Hogan

Substitutes:
J Byrne for Judge 59′
J Collins for Hogan 59′
J McClean for Hourihane 68′
K O’Hara for Travers 75′
E Stevens for O’Dowda 75′
J Hendrick for Curtis 83′

Squad
Goalkeepers: Kieran O’Hara(Burton Albion), Darren Randolph(Middlesbrough), Mark Travers(AFC Bournemouth)
Defenders: Cyrus Christie(Fulham), Seamus Coleman(Everton), Shane Duffy(Brighton & Hove Albion), John Egan(Sheffield United), Richard Keogh(Derby County), Kevin Long(Burnley), Enda Stevens(Sheffield United)
Midfielders: Alan Browne(Preston North End), Jack Byrne(Shamrock Rovers), Josh Cullen(Charlton Athletic), Ronan Curtis(Portsmouth), Jeff Hendrick(Burnley), Conor Hourihane(Aston Villa), Alan Judge(Ipswich Town), James McClean(Stoke City), Callum O’Dowda(Bristol City), Glenn Whelan(Heart of Midlothian)
Forwards:  James Collins(Luton Town), Scott Hogan(Stoke City)

 

Stephen Kenny guided his Republic of Ireland U21 side to another well merited European Championship qualifying victory, with a three one defeat of hosts Sweden in Kalmar this Tuesday afternoon.

Ireland return to the summit of Group One with the maximum 9 points from their opening three contests. Top seeds Italy commenced their challenge this afternoon with a 5-0 home victory over Luxembourg.

Manager Kenny made three changes to the side which started against Armenia on Friday night with Jonathan Afolabi, Zack Elbouzedi and Dan Mandroiu replacing Adam Idah, Gavin Kilkenny and Troy Parrott.

Despite a solid start, Ireland fell behind on 19 minutes to a goal from Swedish captain Mattias Svanberg. Kenny’s charges maintained their composure and dominated play during the remainder of the first half but disappointingly failed to convert any of the goal scoring chances created.

The second period proved more fruitful with Ireland continuing to dominate possession and the 65th miss from the penalty spot by Aaron Connolly, after he himself had been fouled, was quickly forgotten as Jonathan Afolabi scored the equaliser four minutes later.

Ireland continued to dominate proceedings and their perseverance brought just reward with late goals from centre back Conor Masterson and substitute Troy Parrott.

Team: C Kelleher; LO’Connor, C Masterson, D O’Shea, D Leahy; D Mandroiu, C Coventry, J Molumby(C), Z Elbouzedi; J Afolabi, A Connolly
Substitutes:
T Parrott for Mandroiu 51′
G Kilkenny for Elbouzedi 73′
A Idah for Afolabi 82′

              P  W  D  L  F  A   Pts
Ireland       3  3  0  0  7  1    9
Iceland       2  2  0  0  9  1    6
Italy         1  1  0  0  5  0    3
Sweden        1  0  0  1  1  3    0
Armenia       2  0  0  2  1  7    0
Luxembourg    3  0  0  3  0 11    0

 

Squad:
Goalkeepers: Gavin Bazunu(Manchester City), Caoimhin Kelleher(Liverpool)
Defenders:  Darragh Leahy(Bohemian), Kameron Ledwidge(Southampton), Conor Masterson(QPR), Danny McNamara(Newport County on loan from Millwall), Lee O’Connor(Manchester United), Dara O’Shea(WBA), Liam Scales (UCD)
Midfielders: Conor Coventry(West Ham United), Jake Doyle-Hayes(Cheltenham Town on loan from Aston Villa), Zack Elbouzedi(Waterford), Gavin Kilkenny(AFC Bournemouth), Jason Knight(Derby County), Dan Mandroiu(Bohemian), Jayson Molumby(Millwall on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Jack Taylor(Barnet)
Forwards: Jonathan Afolabi(Glasgow Celtic), Aaron Connolly(Brighton & Hove Albion), Adam Idah(Norwich City),  Troy Parrott(Tottenham Hotspur), Simon Power(Ross County on loan from Norwich City)

FAI Cup
The third quarter-final in the 2019 Extra.ie FAI Cup between Waterford and Dundalk took place in the Regional Sports Centre on Monday evening with the visiting ‘Lilywhites’ emerging victorious by three goals to one. Daniel Kelly scored all three Dundalk goals in the opening 33 minutes.

Under 17
Our U17 side, under the stewardship of Head Coach Colin O’Brien, went down to a two one defe4at by Russia on Monday morning at the Club de Futbol, La Nucia, Spain in the second contest of their double header. Russia took the lead on 61 minutes and doubled it after 80 minutes. Substitute Calum Kavanagh converted an 85th minute penalty but it was not enough.

Ireland won the first encounter by two goals to nil on Friday evening last.

Under 18
Head Coach Andy Reid saw his Republic of Ireland U18 charges go down to a one nil defeat by Norway this Monday afternoon in the final contest of the Triangular Tournament being hosted by Sweden.

 

21 members of the surviving 22 man squad for Tuesday evening’s friendly contest with Bulgaria at the Aviva Stadium took part in a training session in Abbotstown this Sunday afternoon. The squad had been released for the weekend with the one remaining member Richard Keogh expected to return this evening.

Mick McCarthy and the squad will feel buoyed by the scoreless draw between Georgia and Denmark in Tbilisi this afternoon but the manager was quick to urge caution as Georgia will provide formidable opposition when we visit Tbilisi next month.

                        P  W  D  L   F  A   Pts
Republic of Ireland     5  3  2  0   6  2   11
Denmark                 5  2  3  0  15  5    9
Switzerland             4  2  2  0  10  4    8
Georgia                 5  1  1  3   4  8    4
Gibraltar               5  0  0  5   0 16    0

Squad
Goalkeepers: Kieran O’Hara(Burton Albion), Darren Randolph(Middlesbrough), Mark Travers(AFC Bournemouth)
Defenders: Cyrus Christie(Fulham), Seamus Coleman(Everton), Shane Duffy(Brighton & Hove Albion), John Egan(Sheffield United), Richard Keogh(Derby County), Kevin Long(Burnley), Enda Stevens(Sheffield United)
Midfielders: Alan Browne(Preston North End), Jack Byrne(Shamrock Rovers),  Josh Cullen(Charlton Athletic), Ronan Curtis(Portsmouth), Jeff Hendrick(Burnley), Conor Hourihane(Aston Villa), Alan Judge(Ipswich Town), James McClean(Stoke City), Callum O’Dowda(Bristol City), Glenn Whelan(Heart of Midlothian)
Forwards:  James Collins(Luton Town), Scott Hogan(Stoke City)