‘We know what we’re good at… But we’re working on getting better on the ball’

On Tuesday, the Republic of Ireland’s U17 footballers qualified as top seeds for May’s European Championship in England with a 100% record, and only one goal conceded. Their head coach is former Cork City midfielder Colin O’Brien, who has worked with these players since Ireland U15 level.

All but three of Colin O’Brien’s U17 squad play their football in the UK. At Premier League academies are Troy Parrott (Tottenham), Jordan McEneff (Arsenal), Sean Brennan and Kameron Ledwidge (Southampton), Nathan Collins and Max Murphy (Stoke), Oisin McEntee (Newcastle), Marc Walsh (Swansea). This week, Cork-born Norwich striker Adam Idah was linked with Manchester Utd.

Q: I saw a lot of these lads as U15s hammer the Czech Republic two years ago. Is it unusual to have kept so many of them together to U17?