Republic of Ireland players for the future?

WoollyRedHat

Sorry if this doesn't deserve a new thread, but who out of players currently coming through the ranks look like good prospects for our national team going forward?

Some ones that come to mind are Samir Carruthers, with a lot been said about him and one of Aston Villa's young guns who won the Next Gen series.

Also another one that could be promising in a department we will really need filling in the not to distant future is Philip Roberts as a forward. He's currently on loan from Arsenal, playing at Falkirk.

Sean Maguire has recently signed for West Ham, coming from Waterford Utd. Could he be another LOI success?

Michael Drennan is another Aston Villa hopefull who has been described as academy manager Bryan Jones as a striker who "scores goals for fun". He has made an impression in the Next Gen and will hope to begin getting more playing time with the senior Aston Villa squad.

Noe Baba who can play full back,centre-back and midfield and whose signature was sought after by Sir Alex Fergusson, and a number of other clubs before he decided to sign for Fulham's academy.

Other players who have mentioned before are Conor Clifford , who is on a two year deal with Southend United, having previously been with Chelsea. He was recently called up to the senior squad for the Germany game. Conor Henderson, formally of Arsenal, is now playing for Hull City, playing in centre midfield.

Who else do you think can break into the squad out of our young players?

damoth

Jack Grealish (Aston Villa, on loan to Notts County), now 18, is another of the Villa youngsters who could have a big future. England have tried to get him to declare for them a few times but he has played underage for Ireland including U21 already.

Pighead

Aiden O'Brien has been doing well with the U21's but unfortunately he's doesn't seem to be getting any games at Millwall.

Seaneh

Sean Murray at Watford, 20 years old and has 2 goals from 10 games from midfield this season and played 15 games last season, most towards the end of the season, helping Watford to the playoffs.

keeponhurling

I thunk the only player we have who looks like they might genuinely become a top level player would be Robbie Brady.

ctrl-alt-delete

Having made his senior debut in the last game of Blackburn's campaign last season against Birmingham I thought we would see more of John O' Sullivan this season, but he has not featured yet.

He has a good record for the youth teams, and is part of the Irish U-21 setup.

Hope he turns out more Damien Duff than Keith Treacy in terms of his Blackburn future.

cson

Richie Towell's only 22.

Break out season for him this year, could make his way back across a lá Keith Fahey I'd imagine. Pighead can enlighten us further I'd say.

Alfa Quadrifoglio

Richie Towell of Dundalk is an outstanding prospect, he'll be signed by a UK club at some stage next season and will be an International of note in time

The_Kew_Tour

Jack Grealish will be very good player if he continues the way he is.

Gael85

Sam Byrne(Man Utd)
Graham Burke(Aston Villa)
Mark O'Brien(Derby)

WoollyRedHat

Gael85 wrote: »

Sam Byrne(Man Utd)
Graham Burke(Aston Villa)
Mark O'Brien(Derby)

Interested to see how the Man United lads do.

On the other side of Manchester, Jack Byrne who was involved in Manchester City academy victory over Bayern Munich a while ago, the score was 6-0, and plays in midfield is another one to watch.

Grealish seems to be popping up a bit and seems like a good prospect.

Local_Chap

Kenny McEvoy of Spurs is suppose to be handy enough. He's the image of Bale and plays in the same position as well!

sh__93

Aaron McCarey of Wolves possibly future Ireland GK. He has ad some great performances for Ireland u21s. I remember one where we lost 4-1 or 4-0 against Spain and even though we conceded 4 he was the games motm.

grenache

Seaneh wrote: »

Sean Murray at Watford, 20 years old and has 2 goals from 10 games from midfield this season and played 15 games last season, most towards the end of the season, helping Watford to the playoffs.

+1

Murray has been in great form over the last 12 months. Looks really confident for a guy of 20, never afraid to shoot on sight from distance.

darragh16

cson wrote: »

Richie Towell's only 22.

Break out season for him this year, could make his way back across a lá Keith Fahey I'd imagine. Pighead can enlighten us further I'd say.

+1

Had a great year especially towards the end of the season. Dundalk done a great job in signing him up. Hopefully he can push on and make his way into the Ireland set-up.

Chris Forrester is another good prospect but had a hot/cold year this year, compared to last year. Needs to have a really good year for Pats before he gets signed up across the water

Xavi6

One to keep an eye on is Jack Byrne at City who has been earning rave reviews in Patrick Vieira's underage side.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jack-byrne-impressing-manchester-city-6262718

Jack's the lad for Blues as youngster shines at City

Patrick Vieira says future Manchester City star Jack Byrne is living up to comparisons with Paul Scholes as the youngster continues to impress.

Rising City star Jack Byrne has a neat sense of timing – in more ways than one.

The 17-year-old Irish starlet’s manager Patrick Vieira questioned comparisons between his midfield general and United legend Paul Scholes because Byrne does not pop up in the box and score goals.

Three days later, Byrne popped up in the box and scored the second goal in a 2-0 win over Arsenal!

The Dubliner is just as precise in the manner of his play and has been the Blues' outstanding player – alongside Marcos Lopes – in a UEFA Youth League campaign which continues against CSKA Moscow at Hyde next Tuesday (3pm).

It was former City star Niall Quinn who compared Byrne to Scholes, after watching him mastermind the Blues’ win at Viktoria Plzen in the first-ever match in the new tournament, which shadows the senior sides’ Champions League games.

That was great news for Byrne, who admits he models his game on ex-England man Scholes, and counts Quinn as a hero from his time with the Republic of Ireland.

The immaculate passing, ability to find space and time in the hurly-burly of midfield and quickness of thought – as well as small stature – are all reminiscent of Scholes, but Vieira feels the teenager will develop into his own player.

Byrne looked excellent on a hard, bumpy pitch in Moscow, and Vieira said: “It was another very good performance from Jack. In all three games in the UEFA Youth League, he has been fantastic.

“What I like about Jack is his personality. He doesn’t get scared at all, he just plays his football and some of his passing in Moscow was excellent.

“He can be different to Scholes, who was more about getting in the box – he scores more goals than Jack, so I think Jack will be a different type of player. But they are both great on the ball.

“Jack is really young and not afraid – he really wants to play. He has taken the responsibility, and is a strong boy.

“Physically he is not impressive at all, but his technique and first touch are excellent and he always likes to play forwards.

“Now he needs to keep playing, keep working hard and like all the lads at this club he needs to take the opportunity that presents itself. If he keeps working hard, the chance will come for him to challenge himself at a different level.”

Byrne’s old coach at St Kevin’s in Ireland, Alan Caffrey, felt that Byrne’s style would have suited Barcelona, but the Ireland Under-19 player chose City after he was pursued by several English clubs.

The youngster has already trained with the first team, and admitted that his deft, quick-thinking style is down to his slight stature.

“I try to stay one step ahead, in your head, know where the next pass is going,” he said.

“The worst thing you can do is take a first touch when your head is down, when you don’t know what to do and are flapping around with the ball – you are going to get clattered.

“I’m not the biggest so I have to be clever. I can’t take two or three touches and get into a physical battle. For me it’s one-touch, two-touch, keep the ball moving.”

If City beat CSKA, they will need a point from their last two games, against Plzen and Bayern Munich – both soundly beaten in the first encounters – to reach the knockout stages.