MICK MCCARTHY HAS sprung a surprise by including Irish U19 international Luca Connell in the squad for the upcoming training camp in Portugal along the Euro 2020 qualifiers with Denmark and Gibraltar in June.
Connell has been a regular in the Bolton midfield at Championship level this season, and while he has been capped at U17 and U19 level for Ireland, he was born in Liverpool and remains eligible to play for England.
It is thought that there has been interest on England’s part in making that happen.
“Luca deserves this opportunity,” said McCarthy.
“With midfielders Conor Hourihane, Glenn Whelan and Josh Cullen all on play-off duty with their clubs in the coming weeks, this is the perfect chance to get Luca into the squad.
“He has had a fine season with Bolton playing 15 times in total and even with their relegation troubles, he has impressed so many people. I know a number of big clubs have sent scouts to watch him so this is a chance to get him in to work with the senior players and see how he gets on.”
Hourihane, Whelan and Cullen will all miss this week’s training camp in Faro as they have qualified for play-off finals with Aston Villa and Charlton respectively. Richard Keogh also misses out, given his impending Wembley appearance against Villa for Derby County.
All four will join up with the Irish squad in Dublin ahead of the trip to Copenhagen to play Denmark on 7 June.
Norway-based goalkeeper Sean McDermott comes in for the injured Kieran O’Hara, while Harry Arter, Jack Byrne, James Collins and Aiden O’Brien have been cut from the provisional squad.
After the date in Copenhagen, McCarthy’s squad return to Dublin to face Gibraltar on 10 June.
Republic of Ireland Squad
Goalkeepers: Darren Randolph (Middlesbrough), Mark Travers (Bournemouth), Sean McDermott (Kristiansund BK)
Defenders: Seamus Coleman (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), John Egan (Sheffield United), Kevin Long (Burnley), Richard Keogh (Derby County), Shane Duffy (Brighton & Hove Albion), Enda Stevens (Sheffield United), Greg Cunningham (Cardiff City)
Midfielders: Alan Judge (Ipswich Town), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Glenn Whelan (Aston Villa), Jeff Hendrick (Burnley), Conor Hourihane (Aston Villa), Luca Connell (Bolton Wanderers), Josh Cullen (Charlton Athletic*), Robbie Brady (Burnley), Callum O’Dowda (Bristol City), James McClean (Stoke City), Ronan Curtis (Portsmouth)
Forwards: David McGoldrick (Sheffield United), Shane Long (Southampton), Sean Maguire (Preston North End), Scott Hogan (Aston Villa), Callum Robinson (Preston North End)
*Indicates the player is on loan
Send those boys to Slovakia!
Zack Elbouzedi is some player MOTM from where I was sitting
@Eoin Murphy: he was excellent against Armenia as well.
@Eoin Murphy: He had a stint with WBA, I guess like Jack Byrne they will be heading back across the Irish sea again….soon!
Terrific 2nd half. Watched few of u21 games this year and they have given me hope COYBIG
I thought Lee O’Connor was terrific as well, a goal and an assist and equally worthy of MOTM.
I was roaring at the telly last night for Mick to bring Troy on in the last few minutes, really believe he could have got us something, well done Kenny and Co. The senior management need to take a leap with some of these young players, some are clearly better footballers than some regulars on the first team. Be brave Mick, we need natural strikers in the team against Slovakia
@Jimjamjim: stopped reading after roaring at the telly
@Jason Oliver: most of us watched it on telly,unfortunately we can’t all go to Dublin on a Monday night and take Tuesday off
@Jason Oliver: never read “after roaring at the telly”
@Pete mc pete: I didn’t get the impression that watching it on telly was the thing he was slagging.
Very encouraging talent in that team, and made all the better by the very smart manager. Kenny can’t take over the senior squad quick enough.
Like the new kit!
A
Such a brilliant send half performance. Ronan was like a man possessed and Parott worked so hard at tracking back. That being said they were helped by Sweden collapsing
Any chance of a look at the goals lads?
They’re all linked from this match thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/coybig/comments/dylpdn/match_thread_ireland_u21_v_sweden_u21_u21s/
If he had brought on troy and Maguire we would have qualified
@Tony O Neill: with hendrick in midfield he wouldn’t have got the ball
@Eoin Murphy:
@Tony O Neill: You must have fallen asleep. He did bring on Maguire.
This is the most excited I’ve been about a group of young Irish players since Brian Kerrs under 16s and 18s in the 90s. Especially the attacking players. To think that we had two premiership strikers missing tonight but still put out the talent we did is crazy. Crazier still is that several of them are still in their teens and could have a couple or more years in the U 21s, though I suspect a few will be fast tracked into the senior squad more regularly.
@Ger: Always good to get your perspective Ger on the matches. I’ll make a few observations from this eventful week for Ireland (all levels). Our U17s beat Israel 4-2. Our U21s beat Sweden 4-1 (7-1 over both matches with them). McCarthy stuck to relying on the same starting 11 he has used for the most part throughout the group games. And yet, probably with a stark reminder and boot up the backside, the same players who could not pass a ball or keep possession, played last night, not with huff and puff, but with confidence, belief, and dare I say, like a team who can boss a match by playing football and even entertain. The same players who looked inept against Gibraltar and Georgia months ago.
There were few poor performances. They just didn’t have that one or two players to make a difference. Whelan is limited, but hats off to the guy. He has often outshone his midfield compatriots this campaign, including Hourihane and Hendrick and McLean. He does his job given by the manager, they don’t.
Like you. I’m positive. I have some serious concerns about Moran and the U19s. They seem out of sinc with the other youth levels. McCarthy can have his March Fair and let’s see where we go from there. By then, Kenny, hopefully, will have the U21s qualified, and ready to move in. It can’t come soon enough and a clearout of at least a third of the current senior squad.
Brilliant performance in the second half! Every single player at least 8/10.
@mar: Unfortunately there are 90 minutes in a match.
Agree with alot of comments here, was at both games, best performance in a good while on Monday, left me thinking about settling for a draw in Georgia, win that game and a draw would have done us. I know people will say Denmark didn’t beat them either but we had a chance and we really didn’t go for it. I thought Browne was excellent on Monday.
As for last night the result and second half performance was very impressive, coming from 1 down and bossing the game was great to see, one person not mentioned in comments was Liam Scales, thought he was terrific when he came on.
Future looks bright
Move all u21s up to senior squad