Irish boss Doolin sees Romania as ideal preparation for elite challenge

Republic of Ireland U19 manager Paul Doolin intends to use the two friendlies against Romania in Cork this week as a dry run for the elite phase of European Championship qualifying.

Doolin’s side take on the Romanians at Turner’s Cross tonight (kick-off 7pm) and then again on Thursday at O’Shea Park in Blarney (12 noon).

With Ireland hosting the elite qualification stage in a group containing Serbia, Turkey and Iceland at the end of May and start of June, this is the perfect preparation for playing games in a compacted period.

“It’s the first time we’ve been together as a group since October, which is the best part of five months,” he said.

“It’s difficult when there is such a gap and even then, you can’t do a whole lot. The players came together on Saturday, we trained Sunday and Monday and then we have the two matches with a day’s recovery in between. We’re looking towards May so this is a good preparation in terms of getting used to it, but we’re not going to be overly concerned with results. Before we played initial qualifying section in Sweden last year, we lost five of the six warm-up matches but we were able to up it a gear or two when competitive matches started.”

The squad shows a few changes since the first qualifying phase, with Doolin happy to have so many options.

“At this level, things always change quickly,” he said.

“At U21 level, you might get two years out of players and at senior maybe 10 years but here you’ve a maximum of 10 or 11 months.

“We’ve changed things around a bit since the last time and we’re given a chance to some new players but then obviously it’s good that we have the option of bringing in other guys too.

“It’s great to have an elite qualifying section at home for a change, we went something like 19 competitive matches away from home after I took over.

“It’ll be very tough as only one team will come out of the group but we’re hopeful and these games against Romania can help us to prepare.”

Shamrock Rovers’ Sean Heaney, Dylan Kavanagh (UCD) and Bournemouth’s Josh O’Hanlon are in the starting XI tonight with Doolin assuring his squad that everyone will get 90 minutes of action over the course of the two games this week.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U19 SQUAD: Eric Grimes (Leeds), Liam Bossin (Anderlecht), Kyle McFadden (Norwich), Lee Desmond (Shelbourne), Noe Baba (Fulham), R O’Reilly (Stoke), Ben McLaughlin (Everton), Bobby Moseley (Birmingham), Adam Wixted (Derby), Alan Browne (Preston), Alex O’Hanlon (Liverpool), Connor Dimaio (Sheffield Utd), Liam Kelly (Reading), Thomas Mulroney (St Pat’s), Darren Murphy (Cork City), Dylan Kavanagh (UCD), Alan O’Sullivan (Aberdeen), Josh O’Hanlon (Bournemouth), Sam Byrne (Man United, on loan at Carlisle).