Soccer

McCaffrey confirms under-19 squad

Republic of Ireland manager Mark McCaffrey has made two changes two his under-19 squad ahead of the trip to Malta for the first…

Fri Nov 14 2008 - 00:00

Republic of Ireland manager Mark McCaffrey has made two changes two his under-19 squad ahead of the trip to Malta for the first qualifying phase for the Uefa Championship.

The manager has called on Celtic's Richie Towell and Wolves player Mark Connolly to fill the void left by injuries to Sunderland's Conor Hourihane (hip) and Newcastle's Callum Morris (ankle).

Both Towell and Connolly were part of the under-17 side that qualified for the Uefa Championship finals in Turkey last year, as were another seven members of McCaffrey's squad.

Ireland and France are favourites to emerge from group four at the expense of Liechtenstein and Malta, but McCaffrey is warning against complacency.

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"If you look at this group, many people will say that it is a certainty that France and Ireland will qualify for the next phase but I am in no doubt that we are in for three tough games over the next ten days," he said today.

"Everybody will eye the final game against the French as the big one, this is not the case. Our first fixture against Malta is on a synthetic pitch which will favour the home side as they will have had a number of training sessions on that surface.

"So far in this qualifying phase, we have seen the likes of Italy being knocked out by Latvia while Croatia were dumped out of the competition by Estonia. The tide is turning for so called 'super powers' of underage football and the way that some of the 'smaller' nations play, it can be quite difficult to break them down if they defend in large numbers," added the manager.

Ireland open their campaign against Malta on Friday, November 21st, before facing Liechtenstein on the 23rd and France on Wednesday 26th.
 
Republic of Ireland under-19 squad:Kieron Thorp (Crystal Palace), Gerard Hanley (Galway United), Lanre Oyebanjo (Histon), Danny Kelly (Norwich City), Niall McArdle (Sunderland), Gavin Gunning (Blackburn Rovers), Shane O'Connor (Liverpool), Jamie Devitt (Hull City), Conor Clifford (Chelsea), Gearoid Morrissey (Blackburn Rovers), Damien McCrory (Plymouth Argyle), Aaron Doran (Blackburn Rovers), Paul Murphy (Ipswich Town), Paddy Madden (Bohemians), James Collins (Aston Villa), Ian Daly (Manchester City), Richie Towell, (Celtic), Mark Connolly (Wolves)