Morling can’t afford Greece slip-up
Manager John Morling has brought a 17-man squad to face Denmark, Latvia and their Greek hosts with only one country advancing to the finals proper in Serbia from May 3-15. Qualification is even more important as the championships will serve as the qualification tournament for the FIFA U17 World Cup later this year.
Morling has a number of leading lights in Manchester United keeper Joe Coll, Reading striker James Murphy and Celtic youth star Paul George, who gives Morling extra options up front after recently declaring for the Republic.
But ahead of Ireland’s first game today against the Danes, a number of home-based talents are also looking to make a mark, including Ringmahon Rangers’ John Kavanagh.
The Republic eased to qualification from the first qualifying phase last autumn, emerging from a group containing Albania, Malta and Norway. And they had two very encouraging outings against Italy last month in Lecce, where they lost 1-0 in the opening encounter before reversing that scoreline two days later courtesy of a Mikey Drennan strike.
Morling said: “The squad are in confident form following our training camp in January which was followed by an extremely valuable double international versus Italy. The group is very even and every team will feel that they can qualify so it will make for a very competitive group,” he said.
Group 3 fixtures (all at Fotis Kosmas Stadium, Alexandropolis) — Today: Denmark v Rep of Ireland (1pm Irish); Friday: Rep of Ireland v Greece (11am Irish); Monday: Latvia v Rep of Ireland (10am Irish).
Coll (Man Utd), Lawlor (Man City), Horgan (Salthill Devon), Kavanagh (Ringmahon Rangers), Hoban (Watford), Sweeney (Belvedere), Smith (Arsenal), Kavanagh (Belvedere), Dillon (Derby), Lenihan (Belvedere), Gallagher (Cherry Orchard), McEvoy (Tottenham), Drennan (Aston Villa), Garmston (West Brom), Murphy (Reading), George (Celtic), Byrne, (St Josephs Boys).
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