AS IRELAND’S defeated U19 European Championship semi-finalists touched down in Ireland in the early hours of Sunday morning, captain John Egan backed the original decision of manager Paul Doolin to leave some big names out for the showpiece in Romania.

AS the dust settled on his feat of qualifying Ireland for the first U19 European Championship finals in nine years, Ireland manager Paul Doolin will this week start mapping out preparations for the showpiece in Romania in July.

TO say that Greg Cunningham has been plucked from obscurity might be to misrepresent the case of a player who, after all, makes his home amongst the would-be galacticos of Manchester City.

IT’S the greening of Sunderland in reverse, with Steve Staunton naming four of the Championship-winners in his Irish squad for the friendly games in the USA later this month.