Egan: Doolin right to axe big names

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.

Manchester United duo Robbie Brady and Seán McGinty, along with Everton’s first-teamer Shane Duffy, were absent from the Irish squad which progressed from their group at the finals only to lose 5-0 against Spain in Friday’s semi-final. Although Brady, currently on loan at Hull City, began the campaign as captain and still ended as the team’s top scorer over the UEFA series, the winger was dropped for the Championships.

That’s because Doolin took exception to Brady’s failure to return his phone-calls after Manchester United withdrew him from the elite qualifiers in May. Sunderland defender Egan replaced Brady as captain for those qualifiers and kept the armband for the finals.