German schooling highlights Ireland’s learning curve

At midday today, Ireland’s production factory for footballers will be on show when we meet our nearest neighbour and rival England for a place in the U17 European Championship semi-finals.

Unlike previous squads which reached major underage tournaments, there is a distinctly home-grown hue to Colin O’Brien’s panel. Only striker Rowan Roache, a striker on the fringes of League One outfit Blackpool, was born outside of the country.

There may be satisfaction that, in this case at least, a reliance on the granny rule is not required and that the domestic development system so derided for the paucity of graduates into the senior team is improving. However, evidence of how far that progress has gone is being judged in the context of Wednesday’s mauling by Germany.