Wealth of talent on display at showpiece U-21 final

THE meeting of Cork City and Bohemians in the final of the Eircom U-21 League at Turner’s Cross tonight (7pm) offers Ireland’s champion club the opportunity of underlining their dominance of the domestic scene.

Bohs were such stylish winners of the league a couple of weeks ago that it is logical to expect their underage squad to follow suit.

However, manager Gino Brazil said this was not his first priority. "We would love to win, but at this level it is all about preparing young players for the senior grade and that is why we will use only one overage player the youngsters will benefit from this experience," he said.

The teams are entitled to use three overage players but Brazil will stay with the squad who succeeded in winning their section of the league competition and came through the knock-out phase to reach this final.

His squad includes several who have been capped by Ireland: Willie Doyle, a centre-forward who is in the current Irish U19 squad, centre-half Jason McGuinness, who has played for Ireland at U21 level and two outstanding full-backs in Brian Gannon and Vinny Tyrrell.

"Five or six of our team got into the Bohs first-team squad this season and that shows how promising they are," said Brazil.

Cork City's manager Stuart Ashton expressed virtually the same sentiments. "Now we have got this far, we would love to win it. For some of these lads it might be the biggest game of their careers, for others it might be a stepping stone on to something bigger but for all of them it is a reward for their hard work this season," he said.

Cork have used three overage players all season and they will keep their places: goalkeeper Mark McNulty, centre-back John Andrews and midfielder Michael Mulconry, who is the only one to figure regularly in the first team squad.

Cork's win over St Patrick's Athletic in the semi-final in a penalty shoot-out after extra time was classed as one of the best matches seen at the venue this season. Cork's goalscorers in a 2-2 draw were Cillian Lordan and Eoghan Lougheed. They won the shoot-out 7-6 after Lougheed scored their seventh and goalkeeper McNulty saved the next from Aidan O'Keeffe.

This is Cork City's last chance of winning a national trophy this season but while a win would be welcome, Ashton identified their priorities.

"We have three under-age squads at the club and it is all about preparing them for the first team," he said.

Manager of Ireland's U21 squad Don Givens will attend the match and will be introduced to the players before kick-off.