Ireland U18s ready for Czech friendly clashes

Paul Doolin’s side is made up of a mixture of home-based and UK-based players and he feels the exercise will be worthwhile for the players in the long term.

“Although we’ve just had the players for a very short period of time and you can only do as much as you can in that, you can see that they’re a good group and the players have done well. It’s a good opportunity for them,” he said.

“We did well against the Czechs last year with a similar type of squad. The be all and end all is not the results but more so to prepare them for next year’s U19s. If you can perform and get a result then all the better.

“There are a lot of technically good players so going forward we have good options and if we can get those players to understand their defensive roles too then you have a good all-round player.

“The likes of Conor Kane from St Pat’s and James Doona from Shamrock Rovers have a bit of potential so hopefully they’ll benefit from the experience.”

Meanwhile, Everton’s Steven Kinsella will make his first appearance for his country in more than a year after a string of injuries curtailed his progress. The former Templeogue United winger missed out of the UEFA U17 Championship Finals in Bulgaria last season so is eager to get back in the Ireland shirt.

“It’s about 14 months since I played for Ireland and I’ve missed a lot especially with the team getting UEFA qualification,” he said.

“I was watching the games from Bulgaria on Eurosport wishing I was there. I pulled a muscle before the Elite Phase and unfortunately couldn’t recover the fitness in time.

“Thankfully this season I’ve finally got all my injuries sorted out and now I’m getting games. I got 90 minutes the other week for Everton against Preston at U18s and that was a boost.

“I am looking forward to the rest of the season. I’ve got everything sorted fitness wise. I’m not sure why I’ve been unlucky with injuries. Maybe the demands of full-time training was new to me and I took time to adjust. I’ve gotten stronger and have done a lot in the gum the past year and its paid off. Next year I want to keep playing games and push on.

“I’m hoping to get more game time over the next few days with Ireland. I just want to play and do well. We’ve trained well and have been working on the sort of things Paul wants us to do. We haven’t a lot of time together but we’ve working on the roles and responsibilities we have in the team. The Czechs are usually good sides so I’m looking forward to the game.”

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U18 SQUAD:

Eric Donnelly (Shelbourne)

Corey Chambers (Bray Wanderers)

Corey O’Keeffe (Birmingham City)

Conor Kane (St Patrick’s Athletic)

Brandon Payne (Celtic FC)

Conor McCarthy (Cork City)

Darragh Leahy (Coventry City)

Jonathan Lunney (Preston North End)

Leo Donnellan (QPR FC)

Shane Hanney (Shamrock Rovers)

Trevor Clarke (Shamrock Rovers )