European Youth Championship/Play-off, second leg: Brian Kerr's under-19 Republic of Ireland side will seek to complete what would be a remarkable double over the Dutch at Turner's Cross this evening when they attempt to become the second Irish team this season to eliminate one of the continent's major powers from an international qualifying campaign.
With their senior team's hopes of qualification for the World Cup finals having effectively ended on September 1st at Lansdowne Road, the Dutch take the field in Cork on the verge of making another exit, this time at the intermediate play-off stage of the European Youth Championships.
The Irish won last month's first leg 2-1 in Rotterdam where goals from Stephen Elliott and Sean Thorntan put their side in a strong position to qualify for July's eight-team tournament in Norway.
To overcome the deficit tonight's visitors must beat the Irish by two goals or by the odd goal in five or more. But Kerr is banking on the supporters who turned out in such huge numbers through the qualifying group games against Latvia, Austria and Croatia to reproduce something of the atmosphere that accompanied Ireland's memorable defeat of Louis van Gaal's side.
"I'd like the crowd to see the game in the same way," said Kerr yesterday. "We do have a slight advantage being 2-1 up but we still have to be at our best if we're going to go through and the crowd can play an important role in helping us."
While the Ireland manager has yet to name his team he may stick with the same 11 that started the game in the Excelsior Stadium. Yesterday, however, he said the slightly different requirements this time around might prompt a switch from the 4-3-3 formation employed successfully over there.
If Kerr does opt for a more conventional two-man strike-force then Charlton's Adrian Deane is likely to move in from the left in order to partner Jonathan Daly while Conor Gethins may drop back on the right side to complete the four-man midfield.
"The have to come at us from the start," said Kerr, "and that's what I expect them to do. We won't set out to play a counter-attacking game but we may have to."
Though Ian Simpemba (groin) and George Snee (cold) were among a handful of players with minor ailments yesterday morning Kerr expects to have a full panel to choose from by kick-off time.
The Dutch expect to be without the Feyenoord pair of Glenn Loovens and Robben van Persie, both of whom have been kept back by their club for Thursday's UEFA Cup semi-final second leg against Inter Milan.
Possible team: Murphy (Manchester City); Kelly (Tottenham), Paisley (Manchester City), McCarthy (Manchester City), Capper (Sunderland); Gethins (Ross County), Thorntan (Tranmere Rovers), Whelan (Manchester City), Ward (Wolverhampton Wanderers); Daly (Stockport County), Deane (Charlton Athletic).
The Eircom League has officially confirmed the appointment of Darren Bernstein as marketing and development executive with the organisation while Pat Duffy is the first development officer for the under-21 league.
Meanwhile, Republic of Ireland manager Don Givens has named an 18-man squad for a friendly international against Austria in Kindberg-Stryria next Tuesday (5.0 Irish time).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-21 SQUAD: J Murphy (Tranmere), G Stack (Arsenal), J O'Shea (Man Utd), J Goodwin (Celtic), B Shelley (Bohemians), K Foy (Notts Forest), B O'Callaghan (Barnsley), R Byrne (Shamrock Rovers), T Butler (Sunderland), L Miller (Celtic), M Doyle (Celtic), D Mattis (Huddersfield), S Byrne (West Ham), A Reid (Notts Forest), B Burgess (Blackurn), B Cash (Notts Forest), J Gamble (Reading), J Daly (Stockport).
UNDER-16 SQUAD: D Kelly (Cherry Orchard), S McFaul (Cherry Orchard), P McShane (St Joseph's Boys), A Keogh (St Joseph's Boys), G Nash (Belvedere), P Cregg (Stella Maris), D Elebert (Stella Maris), N Flynn (Stella Maris), C Lyng (Wexford Celtic), K O'Malley (Ballinrobe), C Carroll (Corbally), M Ronaldson (Riverside Celtic), R McGavigan (Drumkeen United), A McGeady (Celtic), S Foley-Sheridan (Aston Villa), S O'Donnell (Arsenal), C Logan (Leicester), L Best (Notts County).
