Tom Mohan names Ireland U19 squad for UEFA Qualifiers

REPUBLIC of Ireland U19 Head Coach Tom Mohan has named his squad for the forthcoming UEFA U19 Championships Qualifying Round.

The Irish head to Tirana for a testing mini-group when they face Albania, Germany and Gibraltar with the top two sides progressing to the main qualifying round. Georgia will host the final tournament from 2 to 15 July 2017.

Mohan had essentially a full squad to choose from with only Tyreke Wilson missing through injury from the players that featured in a couple of friendly games against Austria earlier this month.

The Irish beat the Austrians 3-1 and 1-0 in those two fixtures at Tallaght Stadium and Mohan wants his side to build on those performances.

"A lot of the players have club games this weekend so we'll be obviously hoping they all come through those games unscathed before we head to Tirana," he said.

“We had a good look at the players against Austria. We know we can improve on those games. The first game we dominated without really taking our chances and the second game we found it more difficult when the opposition went down to ten players. Some of the players were waiting for things to happen rather than making things happen.

“We’ve a difficult group with Albania first and we’re expecting a really tough opening game. They beat Wales in the qualifying round last year and seven of those players are still available to them so they've good experience. That said we feel we have a good squad ourselves who can meet the challenge ahead."

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U19 SQUAD:

Caoimhin Kelleher (Liverpool)

Mark Travers (Bournemouth)

Jake Doyle Hayes (Aston Villa)

Corey O’Keeffe (Birmingham City)

Darragh Leahy (Coventry City)

Conor Masterson (Liverpool)

Canice Carroll (Oxford Utd)

Dara O’Shea (West Bromwich Albion)

Declan Rice (West Ham)

Trevor Clarke (Shamrock Rovers)

Zachary Elbouzedi (West Bromwich Albion)

Conor Levingston (Wolves)

Connor Ronan (Wolves)

Steven Kinsella (Everton - on-loan at St Patrick’s Athletic)

Jayson Molumby (Brighton)

Ronan Hale (Birmingham City)

Michael O'Connor (Dundalk FC)

Josh Barrett (Reading)

FIXTURES

UEFA U19 Championships Qualifying Round Group Four

Thursday, October 6

Albania v Republic of Ireland, Selman Stermazi, Tirana (ALB) (11.00am Irish)

Saturday, October 8 Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar, Niko Dovana, Durres (ALB) (11.00am Irish)

Tuesday, October 11

Republic of Ireland v Germany, Niko Dovana, Durres (ALB) (1.00pm Irish)