Republic of Ireland Team 2023/24 [old thread]

When Connolly was Zefi's age he was breaking into the Brighton team and played 24 PL games. Four seasons later he's getting a one year contract from Hull after Brighton let him leave.

Chances of him being the next Connolly are more likely than him being the next Damien Duff.

Finishes the season with an injury time winner. Interesting to see where he ends up next season. Celtic will be foolish not to try sign him and given Johnston's half a season at WBA could tempt Norwich with player plus cash deal. Might give them an advantage over other teams if there's a bit of interest for him.

First half hat trick for Parrott within 30mins in the second leg of the relegation play off against 2nd tier ADO. Game has been temporarily stopped before half time after ADO fans threw fireworks onto the field after the fourth goal was scored.

Jake O'Brien starts in the French cup final which kicks off at 8.

Third goal was a penalty.

Was a great loan move for Idah and made the right choice not going to Verona I think it was. With one game left they're 13th in Serie A but there's only 4pts separating 13th and 18th. So that's how close the bottom of the table is in Serie A.

Has finished the season with two trophies, a goal every 90mins and scored some important goals for Celtic which you could argue they don't win the league without them.

First game he gets the assist for Celtic's equaliser against Aberdeen in a 1-1 draw after coming on as a sub. Scored twice against Hibs in a 2-1 win in his second game.

Their 3-1 win against Motherwell he came on at half time with them losing and scored the first two goals. Put them 3-2 up against Rangers with a late goal but finished 3-3 and now the only goal in the cup final.

Playing really well too. Should really be starting for Ireland in the upcoming friendlies

Would appear to have very much been the FAI he had an issue with rather than Kenny… he already had his problems with the FAI, and only joined because of Kenny, and then when they made such a big deal out of the video (and other bits of meddling apparently) he walked.

As for the current opening, he was contacted 'through intermediaries' to gauge interest in it, rather than properly and directly. Definitely should've just gone to him more professionally - though I don't think he'd have been very open to it regardless, but there's a proper way of doing things.

Duff as a former international would be interesting and you could give him the job. But the Kenny experiment should have concretely demonstrated how significant the step up is between LOI and International level.

Wonder what buy clause Norwich were insisting on. If it's was an obligation to buy or the option to buy for £5m. Celtic might find it hard to get him for £5m now.

They could use Johnston to sweeting the deal as an option. One thing going in their favour is Idah is a Celtic fan and might only leave Norwich for Celtic.

Will be good to have two or three strikers in good form going into this window. Just hope there's no pull outs. Will be interesting to see if he goes 3-5-2 with Szmodics and Idah or sticks with the 3-4-3.

I agree and Kenny was a vastly more experienced and successful manager while Duff hasn't won anything yet.

Duff's playing career might buy him more time, recognition and respect from players, fans and the media. Not that that should be a factor but we're talking about the FAI here.

Bazunu, Collins, Egan, Molumby, Ogbene, and Ferguson. Not sure who else is ruled out.

Bit of a pain for fans of the WNT too - the Hungary game overlaps with their away Euros qualifier game against Sweden.

It says 6.30 on the FAI website. Maybe the local time? Makes things a bit simpler, although I'm not sure how reliable RTE player will be on the train into the Aviva (and with daughter's two favourite players in the world likely taking the keeper spot for men's and women's, I'll be under strict instructions to make it work!)

Coverage starts at 5 on rte so yeah the FAI is going off local time.

Tom Cannon called up to the senior side. David Harrington gets his first call up and Enda Stevens returns to the squad along with Shane Duffy.

Josh Keely and Bosun Lawal supposedly will train with the seniors before joining up with the U21s.

Also, it would be great to see Jake the Mountain O'Brien start.

Harrington is the first player I'd to Google in a senior squad in a very long time, probably since one of those end of season tours in America under Stan or Trap.

Disappointing squad overall though, not arguing there were loads who should've been in there but having Stevens and Brady as your left full options is incredibly disappointing.

Possibly, something was mentioned about fitness. Didn't catch actually what was said but Kasey McAteer is missing too for the same reason.

Alan Browne asked not to be selected as these are only friendlies. He's out of contract atm. Said Browne would have joined up if they were competitive games.

Said Manning hasn't played enough games lately to get called up. Which is a weak as piss excuse when you consider O'Dowda was called up. Also given that Southampton were in the playoffs he's likely match sharp and would have been training daily while others were on holidays.

Travers and Cullen won't be joining up with the squad straight away as they've both got weddings. Which is why Keely and Lawal will train with the seniors till they arrive.

Not sure if Cullen and Travers will miss the first game. He was asked if both players would be in Portugal. But didn't hear what actually was asked or any reference towards the first game.

Doesn't tie him to us, but joining up with the senior team is definitely a great step in the right direction, especially after England already approaching him about switching to them. It's going back on that step up to the seniors that's drawn so much ire on Rice (much more than Graelish), which I'm sure Cannon himself will be aware of.

He does alright… interested to see what happens with him this season - whether he'll be seen as depth for Leicester in the PL, or go on loan to play regularly in the championship. As nice as it is on paper to have more PL players, I kinda hope its the latter.

Will likely depend on who they bring in as manager and what money they'll have to spend. They've only four senior strikers and Vardy is still the main man there. Daka and Iheanacho were meh this season and Iheanacho is out of contract.

Think a loan move even for six months would be beneficial. His start at Leicester hasn't been much to write home about but when he joined he already had the stress fracture back injury. So wouldn't be surprised if he's kept around until at least January to act as back up for Vardy.

With the change of rules towards eligibility there's a possible chance that while a cap won't tie him to Ireland indefinitely it might mean he'll have to wait until June 2027 if wants to switch.

Would be great if a journalist could find this out for definite. If he togging out for us stops him switching for three years then would wonder has this season (even with the injury) changed his mind a little. Otherwise might just be him trying to make England interested again by flirting with us.

Honestly I wouldn't have him in the senior squad. He's done nothing this season to prove he should be ahead of Armstrong or Emakhu for a call up this summer. Could even argue that Nathan Fraser would be more deserving of a call up and even he also fits into the will he won't he play for us category that has likely seen Cannon get this call up.