1. Connor Ronan
Has featured sporadically for Wolves’ first team over the past two seasons, and caught the eye in particular during the club’s League Cup match with Man City earlier this season. Even Kevin De Bruyne is a fan, as Ronan relayed to The42 back in November.
2. Declan Rice
At 18, Rice has already made a number of appearances for West Ham in the Premier League. The London-born Ireland U21 international can play both as a defensive midfielder and centre-back, featuring in the latter position recently when the Hammers came desperately close to holding Premier League leaders Man City to a draw.
3. Jayson Molumby
The 18-year-old Waterford native has already featured for the Brighton senior team in the League Cup. A memorable few weeks also saw him captain the Ireland U19s in his home county back in October. He has been part of an encouraging run of results for Tom Mohan’s side. Goals from the similarly promising Neil Farrugia and Lee O’Connor saw them beat Serbia 2-1 to qualify for the Euros Elite Round earlier this year.
4. Aaron Connolly
Ireland’s senior side may not be blessed with an abundance of top-class strikers currently, but there is at least one exciting prospect coming through. Like fellow Irishman Molumby, Galway native Connolly has already made his debut for the Brighton senior team in the EFL Cup. The teenage attacker was also part of the Ireland U17 side that reached the quarter-finals of the European Championships earlier this year before suffering a narrow 1-0 loss to an England team that would go on to win the World Cup the following October.
5. Josh Cullen
A technically accomplished midfielder, Cullen has already made a Premier League debut for West Ham, coming off the bench in a 2015 win over Liverpool at Anfield. For the most part though, he has gained experience playing senior football in League One, while on loan at Bradford and in the Championship with Bolton this season.
6. Ronan Curtis
A powerful runner who has already established himself as a key player for Derry City, Curtis is also an Ireland U21 international. The winger/attacker caught the eye playing in the Europa League earlier in the season and attracted interest from Swedish side Ostersunds as a result, though a move there fell through ultimately.
7. Ryan Manning
A gifted playmaker, the 21-year-old’s story has been well-documented as he went from Galway United to the brink of a QPR exit and then right back in contention for the first team again, inking a long-term contract last January owing to his impressive progress. Manning has caught the eye for the Ireland U21s and a senior debut cannot be too far off if he continues improving at his current rate.
8. Jack Byrne
The last 12 months have been a significant learning curve for Byrne. Last year, the Dubliner was being invited to train with the Irish senior side and gaining plenty of acclaim for some standout performances on loan with Dutch side Cambuur in the Eredivisie. However, since leaving Man City permanently, things haven’t gone entirely to plan for Byrne. He struggled to make an impact at Blackburn and Wigan, but the midfielder seems to be rediscovering the form of old now on loan at Oldham in League One, though his future there is looking highly uncertain too.
9. Ryan Sweeney
On loan from Stoke, the 20-year-old centre-back has impressed at Bristol Rovers this season. Sweeney, who was born in London, has also been a key component of Noel King’s Ireland U21 side, who are currently second behind Germany in their 2019 Uefa European U21 Championship qualification group and have conceded just three goals in five games.
10. Reece Grego-Cox
The 21-year-old made a Premier League debut for QPR as far back as 2015. Since then, he has had to be patient at club level, spending last season on loan at Newport County in League Two before injury cut short this stint prematurely. He has been compared to Charlie Austin by youth coach Steve Gallen, and demonstrated further evidence of his potential by hitting a hat-trick in the Ireland U21 team’s win against Israel last October.
11. Jake Doyle-Hayes
A 19-year-old midfielder who was born in Marino in Dublin before re-locating to Cavan at a young age, Jake Doyle-Hayes signed for Villa in 2015 despite interest from bigger clubs in Man United and Chelsea. The youngster has represented Ireland at various age groups and penned a new three-year contract with Villa last September. Since then he has made further progress, appearing twice for the club in the EFL Cup, while making the bench for their Championship match against Middlesbrough on Saturday.
12. Harry Charsley
A regular for the Ireland U21s and Everton’s reserve sides, Charsley recently made his senior debut for the Toffees in the Europa League. Primarily a midfielder, the Wirral-born 21-year-old lined out at left-back against Apollon Limassol and drew plaudits for his assured display on the night.
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Still including Jack Byrne in a list about future ireland hopefuls is either a lack of research by the journalist or a lack of depth in Irish youth players
@@aidoroch: or a complete show of ignorance from yourself. One of the best players in league 1 this year. Not bad for a 21 year old failure.
Hold tight 17 year old Jonathan Afolabi from Tallaght tearing it up in Southampton’s under 23 team, would be nice to see an article about him on here..
Jack Byrne? ??? Ffs. I’d say his chances have come and gone by now. Oldham left him go
@Dearan Reidy: blackburn also cut short his loan move. But at 21 has loads of time
@Dearan Reidy: are you very sure of that or are you making a baseless assumption? He has been lauded in recent times as one of the best players in League One. Oldham don’t want to let him go but his head has been turned and it looks as though the manager there has admitted to defeat in keeping him.
@Dearan Reidy: I urge you to have a look at the Oldham fans forum where many have raved about him as the best player Oldham have had for a while and assert he’s either going back to Wigan to be sold on or win them the league. It’s completely unfair to be insinuating he’s been left go because you’re following the narrative that he failed at Wigan and Blackburn so here’s another instance of it.
Jack Byrne turning into Anthony Strokes
@Aidan: not really. Wes didn’t make league 1 till he was his late 20′s.
And Warren O’Hora, he plays for bohs.
So basically we’re banjaxed for the next years to come
never mind players….pundits is where the money is!
obviously carragher and neville, but sutton is very very good. knows his stuff and is not afraid to enter an argument if he believes someone has said something false.
Christ we’re fecked if this is our future
If Josh Cullen could kick onto the next level then maybe he can be that player to control the tempo in central midfield that we have sorely lacked since the days of players like Roy Keane and Stephen Reid. Ryan Manning and Liam Kelly are good bets too. Would be great if one of those could become and established premier league playmaker. Hogan needs to leave Villa too, he’s been pants there. He’s the only striker out there who right now looks like he could fill the role we are so lacking in if he pulled his finger out and started scoring again.
Ryan Manning not playing many games with QPR this year either. Not sure why. Think we need Jack Back and find a few more Grannies
An awful lot of coaching going on last few years in Ireland ? This sometimes in my opinion can put young lads astray , they should be encouraged to be themselves and express their natural ability and not turn them off the game . Coaching is ideal but encouragement and Man management is paramount also in equal amounts in my humble opinion .
I was excited about Cullen, manning, jack Byrne at the start of the season but it really has not gone well for them. Cullen not playing for Bolton and about to be recalled by WHUFC to possibly be sold. manning is a bit part player at QPR this season while he really should be kicking on for the great year he had last season and Jack Byrne just seems to have the World of talent yet no club wants him, city, blackburn, Wigan and now Oldham all have dumped him in 18 months. My biggest fear of the whole lot is Declan Rice, he is a super future talent but is at a relegation threatened club so they are afraid to play him regularly because he may make rookie mistakes and now they are buying Mawson from Swansea which will push him further down the pecking order.
@Adrian Boland: apparently Cullen finally put in a big performance a couple of days ago. Maybe starting to settle at Bolton
@Adrian Boland: Oldham did not dump Byrne. Wigan want him to come back so they can have a permanent swap with Hearts in the SPL for one of their players. Byrne is clearly mulling it over. You are clearly listening too much to an embittered Richie Wellens.
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There’s a young 19yr old from called Ryan Nolan from Shannon co clare has not long signed a pro contract with Inter Milan, he plays Centerback back for them, he has won the under19 Italian league the last 2yrs in a row….he can’t get a look in, in the Irish setup (Disgrace)… and Spain are sniffing around him as He’s eligible to play for them also…