Republic of Ireland Under-21 manager Don Givens has named his starting team to face Armenia tonight (Wednesday) in their UEFA Championship qualifier at Tallaght Stadium (7.30pm). The side shows six changes from the team which were beaten by Armenia last November in the reverse fixture, including the return of Seamus Coleman of Everton) and Ipswich Town’s Owen Garvan, who will captain the side. Coleman missed out through injury while Garvan sat out the fixture due to suspension. Midfielder David Meyler is also restored to line-up, having broken into the first team at Sunderland, and he will be joined in the engine-room by Ireland Under-19 captain Conor Clifford, who will be making his first international start at this level. Uncapped Kevin Long, the recent signing from Burnley FC from Cork City, will be on the bench and he reflected the mood amongst the players. He said: “I was with the squad in Armenia when we got beaten and I know the lads are eager to put that result right. “I’ve only been called into the squad for the last few matches and hopefully I get to my first cap soon. “It’s been a great experience to be training with such quality players and it would be brilliant to play a role for the team.” REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U-21: Shane Redmond (Darlington); Seamus Coleman (Everton), Callum Morris (Newcastle United), Darren Dennehy (Gillingham), Cian Hughton (Lincoln City); Conor Clifford (Chelsea), Owen Garvan (Ipswich Town), David Meyler (Sunderland); Alan Judge (Plymouth Argyle), Cillian Sheridan (St. Johnstone), Sean Scannell (Crystal Palace). Substitutes: James McKeown (Peterborough United), Kevin Long (Burnley), Olanrewaju Oyebanjo (Histon), Seamus Conneely (Galway United), Scott Davies (Reading), Ian Daly (Aris Thessaloniki), Terry Dixon (West Ham United). Tickets for the match are priced Eur5 for adults and Eur2 for Under-16s.
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Under-21 team named for Armenia qualifier at Tallaght Stadium
The Republic of Ireland U19 squad maintained a good record of consistency in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Championship by advancing once again to the second, elite stage, of the 2010 Championship. Ireland opened their programme for 2009 at this level by competing at the same stage of the UEFA Championship of 2009 in Belgium. They were drawn against Belgium, favourites Switzerland and Sweden and the four teams competed in a round robin tournament with the winners, only, going forward to the finals. Ireland’s U19s, under manager Sean McCaffrey, took part in a three-day training camp in Dublin in preparation for the tournament. They travelled to Belgium in June with hopes high but the schedule was not favourable to them. Ireland had to face the hosts, Belgium, in their opening match and despite a spirited performance, they were beaten 1-0. The only goal came after 37 minutes and Belgium withstood Ireland’s best efforts at securing an equaliser. Ireland now faced a difficult task and it was rendered impossible when they were heavily defeated by Switzerland 6-1 next time out. Their 2-1 win over Sweden in their third match was of little consolation to a disappointed group as Switzerland advanced to the final tournament. Ireland were left to prepare for the preliminary qualifying competition of the UEFA Championship of 2010. Manager McCaffrey went through the process of offering all of Ireland’s eligible players an opportunity of making the championship squad at a warm-up tournament in Dublin in September. This tournament followed the pattern of the qualifying tournaments with Netherlands, Turkey and Portugal joining Ireland in a round-robin competition. And Ireland excelled against high-quality opposition. Ireland drew the opening match 1-1 with Netherlands, beat Turkey 2-0 and played some splendid football as they went under 0-1 to Portugal in their final contest. The work that was down in the course of the tournament paid rich dividends when the preliminary qualifying tournament of the Championship was played in San Marino in November of 2009. Ireland were drawn with San Marino, Albania and favourites Italy. Ireland and Italy had identical 5-0 wins in their opening matches with Ireland overcoming the hosts, San Marino. And Ireland made sure of advancing to the second elite phase by beating Albania 2-0. Italy also won their second match and with a superior goals record to Ireland they needed a draw in the final series to finish as winners of the group. They defeated Ireland 2-0 while Albania defeated San Marino to finish third. Ireland’s defeat would have serious consequences when the draw for the second elite qualifying phase was made in Nyon, Switzerland. Ireland were presented with a huge task as they were drawn with Ukraine, England and Bosnia & Herzegovina. The tournament will be played in the Ukraine from May 26 to the 31st, 2010, with the winners, only, advancing to the final of the Championship in France next Summer. Ireland find themselves in the most difficult group for Ukraine won the Championship of 2009 when the final tournament was played in Ukraine. And they beat England in the final in Donetsk on August 2, 2009 before 25,000 spectators. This was the 25th celebration of the tournament and the first that was won by the host nation of the finals tournament. So Ireland will go there in May to take on the reigning champions and the runners-up before fans who will offer huge support to the home team. It will obviously be a challenging task but Ireland will draw encouragement from their consistently good performances in 2009 and will look back for inspiration to 1998 when Ireland won the Championship for the only time in their history. The Republic of Ireland U19 results in 2009 – UEFA U19 Championship 2009 – 2010 – Elite Qualifying Phase 05/06/’09: Belgium 1 – 0 Republic of Ireland U19 Eden Hazard 37 07/06/’09: Republic of Ireland 1 – 6 Switzerland Sean Scannell Unal, Koch, Lang, Pache (2), Mustafi 10/06/’09: Republic of Ireland U19 2 – 1 Sweden, in Belgium Aaron Doran 29 Jesper Floren 65 James Collins 73 UEFA U19 Championship 2009 – 2010 Clarion Hotel, Four Nations Tournament in Dublin 05/09/’09: Republic of Ireland 1 – 1 Netherlands, Carlisle Grounds Callum O’Connor 26 Ebicilio 87 06/09/’09: Republic of Ireland 2 – 0 Turkey, Richmond Park Conor Clifford 27, 78 08/09/’09: Republic of Ireland 0 – 1 Portugal, Tallaght UEFA U19 Championship, 2009 – 2010 First Phase Qualifying tournament in San Marino 13/11/’09: Republic of Ireland 5-0 San Marino Conor Henderson 17 Joe Mason 43, 58 Jamil Adam 74 James Keohane 85 15/11/’09: Republic of Ireland 2-0 Albania Aaron Doran (pen) 56 Conor Henderson 84 18/11/’09: Republic of Ireland 0-2 Italy Mattia Destro 62, 64 UEFA U19 Championship, 2009 – 2010 Draw for second phase qualifying tournament to be played in Ukraine To be played in Ukraine from May 26 – 31, 2010. Group 3 Ukraine, England, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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2009 Review – Republic of Ireland U19
The search is on for the new Robbie Keane ! And if and when he is discovered nobody will extend a warmer welcome to him than Don Givens, manager of Ireland’s squad of U21 international players. Givens will look back on twelve months of regular action and regret that a player with the goal-scoring instincts of Ireland’s senior team captain has not yet been identified. That serves to emphasise how special are the particular qualities that elevate a player with goal-scoring potential above his contemporaries, how rare those qualities are. Keane has demonstrated at every level of the game a unique ability to capitalise upon a healthy quota of the goal-scoring opportunities that came his way. He confirmed this special gift when he graduated to senior international football from the day he made his debut in a friendly against the Czech Republic in Olomouc in March, 1998. A total of 41 goals from 95 matches for Ireland represents a marvellous return and points to a very special player. How Don Givens would like to groom his successor ! He said: “If we had a player with Robbie’s ability to take a good proportion of his scoring chances then I can assure you our U21 team would be very competitive in the current UEFA Championship.” Ireland have played six out of ten matches in Group two of the UEFA U21 Championship and are currently bottom of the table behind Switzerland, Turkey, Estonia, Georgia and Armenia with four draws and two defeats. The scoreline in the four drawn matches was 1-1 and therein lies a tale. A youngster with Robbie Keane’s eye for goal might well have led to Ireland winning all four of those matches. Said Givens: “I can honestly say that this squad of players have created more scoring chances in all of their matches than any other group I have managed. But we cannot find someone to put the ball in the back of the net. “The performances generally have been very good. The only one of the six matches where the performance was poor was in our last match where we lost 1-4 to Armenia.” There were extenuating circumstances. That match was played in Yerevan on November 17, four days after Ireland had drawn with Georgia in Tbilisi. Givens was drawing up his squad of players for those two matches when he had to find replacements for the injured James McCarthy, Alan Judge, Brendan Moloney and Ian Bermingham, all regulars in his squad. Then the match in Tbilisi took a heavy toll on his squad for three more players picked up injuries – Seamus Coleman, Sean Scannell and Owen Garvan. The team that faced Armenia was seriously weakened. Givens would, of course, like to see Ireland earn better results, would rejoice if they were to qualify for the finals of the UEFA Championship. However, the main purpose of developing a squad of U21 players has to be the production of players ready to take a place in Ireland’s senior squad. Givens addresses this challenge in his own way. “I do not put pressure on the players for results” he said, “of course we go out to win our matches, but I put pressure on the players for performance. “Generally if the performance is right then the results will follow. Now I have already said that our performances were good in all our games except for the match against Armenia. What has compromised our position has been the inability of our players to put the ball in the net … in a 1-1 draw with Estonia we had 24 scoring opportunities to their one.” Givens has sought to facilitate the advancement of his players and the production of good quality football and performances by imposing an adventurous playing system. “We have played 4-3-3 in all our games” he said, “with two wingers instructed to play wide at all times, principally because we have good wingers. That is why we have had so many scoring chances.” A big drain on the manager’s resources has been, inevitably, the calls of the senior management team. Ireland’s U21 team has lost the services of a large number of players in recent seasons to the senior team while they were still eligible for U21 football. That list includes Eddie Nolan, Paul McShane, Shane Long, Darren O’Dea, Darron Gibson, Aiden McGeady, Anthony Stokes, Andy Keogh among them. It remains to be seen how many of the current U21 squad will go on to play senior football for Ireland. The events of this season in England suggest that Seamus Coleman, the former Sligo Rovers player now with Everton, might well be next in line. “Seamus is a terrific young player with a great attitude” said Givens, “he was unlucky when he first went to Everton because he picked up a foot infection that kept him out for a long time and now he is quickly making up for lost time. “Seamus has always been a very good defender with the kind of enthusiasm and drive you want in your side. But he was, perhaps, a little bit limited when he came over the half-way line. “Then when I saw him recently against ‘Spurs it seemed to me that he has made great strides in this regard. Training and playing regularly with better players is bringing out his attacking skill and he is just one of the players I think could move on to the senior squad soon. “This is an occupational hazard to somebody in my job … just when the team is settling down the probability is one of your best players is plucked from your ranks and promoted to the seniors. Eddie Nolan was the last one and he is a defender too. “But, you know, that is what the job is all about; I mean, you have to accept that Giovanni Trapattoni is not going to be calling to take the players off my bench ! He’s looking for the best.” Results 2009 for Ireland’s U21 squad: 10/02/’09: Friendly – Ireland 1 – 1 Germany, Turner’s Cross. 27/03/’09: Friendly – Ireland 2 – 1 Spain, RSC Waterford 31/03/’09: *ECQ – Ireland 0 – 3 Turkey, Turner’s Cross 09/09/’09: ECQ – Estonia 1 – 1 Ireland, Rakvere 09/10/’09: ECQ – Ireland 1 – 1 Georgia, Tallaght Stadium 13/10/’09: ECQ – Ireland 1 – 1 Switzerland, RSC Waterford 14/11/’09: ECQ – Georgia 1 – 1 Ireland, Tbilisi 17/11/’09: ECQ – Armenia 4 – 1 Ireland, Yerevan. *European Championship Qualifying match
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Ireland’s U21s look for the new Robbie Keane
Republic of Ireland 1-6 Switzerland Sean McCaffrey’s Irish U19 side today (Sunday) were heavily defeated by Switzerland in the UEFA Championship, elite qualifying phase in Belgium. Goals from Daniel Unal, Raphael Koch and Michael Lang put the Swiss three ahead early in the first half before Sean Scannell pulled one back for the Irish in the 66th minute. A brace from substitute, Alexander Pache mid-way through the second half while Mustafi added another late on to make the score 6-1 which means that Ireland cannot qualify for the eight-nation finals which are to be held in Ukraine in July.
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Switzerland end Irish hopes of qualification to U19 UEFA Championship
Republic of Ireland Under-21 International Sean Scannell has been included by manager Sean McCaffrey in his squad for next week’s UEFA Under-19 Elite qualifiers in Belgium against Switzerland, Sweden and the hosts. Blackburn Rovers are represented by four players, including Aaron Doran who has made three first-team outings.
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Scannell included in Under-19 squad for UEFA Elite qualifiers
In a recent interview, Republic Of Ireland assistant manager Marco Tardelli hailed the future of the young Crystal Palace starlet. At the tender age of 18, Scannell has a long career ahead, and if he continues his development as he has been doing, he could well be a player worth keeping tabs on. Tardelli optimistically is already tipping him to be the Irish Theo Walcott. Read more
