King’s U21 squad prove Ireland have the talent

Ireland’s heroic U21 squad were yesterday swapping the euphoria of toppling Italy with a plan to break into the senior squad.

It was 10 years since the Italians lost a home competitive U21 game but that record was smashed on Monday by Noel King’s Boys in Green sealing a 4-2 success.

While qualification for next year’s UEFA finals was beyond them going into the concluding tie, the evidence from the display in Casarano showed that Ireland certainly does have talent.

Already sampling the senior set-up experience over the U21 campaign were regulars James McCarthy, Conor Clifford, Shane Duffy and, most recently, Robbie Brady.

The opinion of King is that more of his starlets are on course to graduate – even though most of his line-up in Italy remains eligible U21s for another two years. Others, such as Arsenal playmaker Conor Henderson — whose wonder goal against the Azzurri has become a Youtube smash — are overage for next year’s U21 qualification campaign, the draw for which takes place in February.

“I refuse to believe the notion that Ireland is not producing technically good players,” stressed King.

“The skill levels on the pitch from the players, many of whom are still teenagers, was just as good, if not superior, to the Italians.”

The performance full of panache and exuberance was not lost on one of Italy’s most famous coaches.

Former Italy and AC Milan boss Arrigo Sacchi is now in charge of elite talent for the association and requested access to the Irish dressing-room to laud King’s kids for the manner they went about their triumph.

To do so with nine men — Derrick Williams was sent-off in the first-half, Anthony Forde in stoppage time — was an incredible feat for a team assembled in only a few days.

“It was a nice touch by such a legendary figure,” said King of Sacchi.

“He was one of 3,500 Italians in the stadium and none of them could have doubted we deserved to win the tie.

“The main area we worked on in training over the campaign was mastering the continental model of retaining possession and hitting teams on the counterattack. We scored all four goals on Thursday in that fashion. It all points to a big future but they must be given chances with their clubs too.”