U19 Euro Qualifying

eirebhoy

Ireland are in a group with Italy, Moldova and N.Ireland. These matches are taking place in Cork. Results so far:

Ireland 2-1 N.Ireland (Stokes, Clarke)
Ireland 3-0 Moldova (Hayes, Morris, O'Carroll)

Italy 2-0 Moldova
Italy 0-0 N.Ireland

Lupoli in the Italy squad but only making the bench.

From reports it seems Ireland are playing quality football. Here's tonights match report:

Ireland 3 — 0 Moldova

Hayes 30
Morris pen 50
O’Carroll 87

Ireland ensured the advanced to the second qualifying phase of the UEFA Cup U19 Championship with another hugely impressive performance against Moldova at St. Colman’s Park.

Ireland were full value for their three goals win and they lost a great chance of enhancing their goals tally still further when Anthony Stokes had a penalty attempt saved by goalkeeper Gaiduchevici in the final minute of the match.

The pity of it was that Stokes had an outstanding match and his leadership of the forward line helped set the standard for a team performance that was smooth and effective.

The quality of football produced by Ireland was marvellous for they were strong and forceful in defence, neat and accurate in their distribution from midfield and swift and persistent in attack.

There was little an ultra defensive Moldova could do to contain them. Once Jonathan Hayes opened the scoring in the 30th minute Ireland, dominated the game and processed their game plan with accurate, compelling football.

Hayes’ opening goal was a beauty. Stokes was lucky to be left free when a Moldova defender slipped as he attempted to intercept a throw from Darren Stapleton. His slick pass sent Hayes disco-dancing his way past a couple of defenders before he clipped the ball past the goalkeeper.

The second goal came from the penalty spot in the 50th minute. Moldova captain Casian was guilty of hand-ball and Ian Morris’ finish was emphatic.

Morris and Darron Gibson again formed an effective partnership in central midfield and they drove Ireland on for a third in the 87th minute. The goalkeeper did well to parry a shot from Stokes but then had no defence when substitute Diarmuid O’Carroll knocked in the loose ball.

Teams:

Republic of Ireland; Randolph (Charlton Athletic); S. Kelly (Arsenal), Nolan (Blackburn Rovers), O'Dea (Celtic), Stapleton (Reading); J. P. Kelly (Bohemians), Gibson (Manchester Utd), Morris (Leeds Utd), Hayes (Reading); Stokes (Arsenal), Clarke (Ipswich Town). Subs: Chambers (Shelbourne) for Hayes 65; O'Brien (Celtic) for Clarke 70; O'Carroll (Celtic) for Morris 82.

Moldova: Gaiduchevici; Nosenco, Bulat, S. Cojocari, Berbinschi; Patras, A. Cojocari, Racu, Casian; Stginga, Suvorov. Subs; Cemirtan for Stinga 46; Zacon for Patras 75; Livandovschii for Cemirtan 78.

Ireland v Italy is on Thursday at Turners Cross.

The U17s won their group (containing Italy and Ukraine) a couple of weeks ago and the U21s have an excellent set of players so the future does seem bright no matter what the media may say.

Kingp35

Looks like Anthony Stokes is doing well and also Leeds player Ian Morris is doing well which really pleases me. The future does look bright with the younger sides but we were in this position not so long ago and alot of the players failed to make the grade. Lets hope this particular group of players can continue to progress and make the grade in the future

eirebhoy

Kingp35 wrote:

...and also Leeds player Ian Morris is doing well which really pleases me.

Aye he set up the 2 goals against N.Ireland from central midfield. Playing left midfield for Blackpool when he gets his chance and Hendry wants to extend the loan.

Kingp35

eirebhoy wrote:

Aye he set up the 2 goals against N.Ireland from central midfield. Playing left midfield for Blackpool when he gets his chance and Hendry wants to extend the loan.

I hope the loan is extended it will do him well to get some first team action under his belt. he is fairly highly rated at Leeds and has been marked done as a player who might oush into the first team squad maybe next year or year after. Future is looking good for him. That whole U-19 team is very good and they could do well in that competition. Pity the games were in Cork because I would have liked to see them play

eirebhoy

Rep of Ireland 4-1 Italy RES
Clarke 20,23 ---- Cerci 55
Gibson 40

---

Marsili s/o90
Nolan 84

North Ireland 2-1 Moldova RES
Fordyce 77, 90 --- Racu 33

* Both Rep of Ireland and Northern
Ireland progress

Big Ears

excellant .

Roddy23

whos the manager of the u19's

gimmick

^ Sean McCaffrey.

Was at tonights game, and boy was it a treat. Great game. Billy Clarke, John Paul Kelly, John Hayes, and Damien(?) Gibson, are players who look like they could ensure a bright future for the Irish game.

I dunno what happened the Italians. While technically very good, they just never got a hold of the game, and let Irelands slick passing stun them. 3-0 at half time told a big story. And Ill be honest, Italys goal game from a back pass, which had the conditions not been so bad it would have made it easily to the keeper.

The scenes at the end of the game were unreal. The Irish seemed unfazed at progression - took it in the stride. The Italians - crest fallen, especially as their manager told them as the board went up that it was 1-1 in Cobh. A big chant of "Cheerio cheerio cheerio", turned into (sp?) "arivaderchie arivaderchie arivaderchie".

One bad spot of tonight is that the Turners Cross pitch is so cut up, its VERY unlikely the cup semi final between Cork and Derry will go ahead as planned tmr night.

Roddy23

Was stokes playing tonight, he looks like a quality player.
Also was lupoli playing for the italians, wont take ye long to notice whish team i support!

gimmick

yes and yes. Lupoli came on as a sub around 70-75. Mde no real impact. Missed a decent chance one on one, but it could be argued that was a great save also.

Stokes started also. Looked good, but didnt really stand out tbh. The players I mentioned above for Ireland were.

eirebhoy

A good few Irish at Reading now. Hayes, Stapleton, Doyle, Long, Castle and Stack. There's also a player in their underage setup, Scott Davies, who scored a hattrick for their U19s recently.

Roddy23 - According to this report Stokes was at the heart of everthing:

The Republic of Ireland’s comprehensive win over Italy on a water-logged pitch at Turner’s Cross spoke volumes for the depth of courage, resilience and skill within the squad.

Ireland completed the first phase qualifying tournament of the UEFA U19 Championship with a swagger and a degree of style scarcely imaginable given the conditions.

Continuous driving rain from the half-time break made the surface treacherous and rendered football a lottery. The pools of water that lodged on the pitch in the closing half-hour were such that the referee would have been justified in abandoning the game.

The pity of it was that the deteriorating conditions interrupted an Irish show of strength that was quite remarkable. Their football in the opening half-hour was compelling, played at a tempo and with such accuracy that Italy were overwhelmed.

Ireland harvested three goals in the opening 40 minutes that effectively decided the game as a contest. It was impossible, of course, to maintain this standard as the rain poured down and the surface water made the pitch increasingly more treacherous.

It was significant, however, that Ireland were very much in the ascendancy again when the final whistle blew after they had contained a second half rally from Italy.

Ireland’s spirit was exemplified by the attitude of their centre-back, Edward Nolan, for he was in Italy’s penalty area to fire home the fourth goal from John Paul Kelly’s right-wing corner in the 85th minute when one would have expected him to be holding his position in defence with Ireland leading 3-1 and just five minutes left to play.

But this team is not about playing safety-first football with caution. They played all week in their victories over Northern Ireland, Moldova and now Italy, with a verve and a spirit of adventure that reflected the attitude of players possessed of a wholesome competitive attitude and the skill to match.

There were some remarkable individual performances and one is loathe to delve too deeply into this element of the game, so uniformly good were Ireland and so smooth and admirable their team-work.

Yet it is impossible to review the game without reference to the Arsenal centre-forward Anthony Stokes. The fact that he finished without a goal told a story for he was at the heart of all that was good in Ireland’s play. His unselfish distribution captured the spirit within the group admirably and that is the principal reason why his contribution is emphasised.

Billy Clarke was in lively form in front of his home-town supporters and he claimed the first two goals in the 19th and 23rd minutes. Stokes was heavily involved both times.

Darron Gibson claimed the third when he won a tackle in midfield and drove into the penalty area before chipping a ball that took a deflection off a defender as it looped over the goalkeeper and dropped under the bar.

Italy’s goal came in bizarre circumstances in the 55th minute. Edward Nolan turned to roll a ball back to goalkeeper Darren Randolph from 25 yards. The ball stuck in a pool just two yards away from him and Alessio Cerci raced on before hammering it home.

The game ended on a sour note when Italy’s substitute, Massimiliano Marsili, was shown a second yellow card and the inevitable red one in the final minute. He was on the pitch for less than 30 minutes and his behaviour was unworthy of a player wearing Italy’s international shirt.

Roddy23

So its not all doom and gloom, as the media have been spinning the stories in the last few years. We would probaly need at least 3/4 of the players from this team to make the breakthrough then, to set us up for another few years.
All we need now is some luck, luck in that the players playing for their club teams get their breaks, and we also need an international manager who will cultivate the new batch.
Whats the story with Givens, is he any good. I know his record on paper is fairly bad, but just want to know if any one has any confidence in him progressing a few of the u19's, through to the u21's, and then on to the senior team.

gimmick

To say that the future looks bright just by looking at the u19s is s silly assumption. I remember a few years ago, a similar U19 tourny took place in Cork, and there were quite a few players who really looked the part:

Sean Thornton - now with Doncaster
Ben Burgess - now with Breantford AFAIK
Jon Daly - Stockport (?)
Jim Goodwin - dunno
Michael Foley (St Pats, not getting his game)
Colin O Brien - nowhere
Stephen Paisley - Longford Town
Adrian something - released by Charlton, non league now I think.

Not a single one of the players who played in that tournament have gone onto bigger things.

Hopefully a few of these lads will.

tetsujin1979

gimmick wrote:

To say that the future looks bright just by looking at the u19s is s silly assumption. I remember a few years ago, a similar U19 tourny took place in Cork, and there were quite a few players who really looked the part:

Sean Thornton - now with Doncaster
Ben Burgess - now with Breantford AFAIK
Jon Daly - Stockport (?)
Jim Goodwin - dunno
Michael Foley (St Pats, not getting his game)
Colin O Brien - nowhere
Stephen Paisley - Longford Town
Adrian something - released by Charlton, non league now I think.

Not a single one of the players who played in that tournament have gone onto bigger things.

Hopefully a few of these lads will.

Ben Burgess is at Hull, out for most of last season with a broken leg but is back in the side now in the Championship and knocked in a few goals already
http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=20396