O'Brien names Ireland U17 squad for UEFA Qualifiers

REPUBLIC of Ireland U17 Head Coach Colin O'Brien has named his squad for the forthcoming UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round tournament in Andorra.

The Irish will meet the Andorran hosts on Saturday, October 16, then face Kazakhstan on Monday, October 17, before finishing their group against Greece on Wednesday, October 20.

O'Brien's squad will head into the qualifying tournament in good form after a win and a draw against Slovenia in Brdo last month followed up by two wins over Turkey in Cork earlier this month.

"We're as prepared as we can be. We had assessments in July then two games in Slovenia and another pair of challenging games against Turkey earlier this month," said O'Brien.

"Those fixtures were good to get and I was particularly pleased that we travelled to Slovenia as that's good for the players to get used to.

"We feel we have prepared the players for this challenge. The tournament football situation is different to friendly matches and the players are well aware of that.

"Our thoughts are on our first game against Andorra and we've got to be ready for that. The players will be meeting something very different to what they've experienced before. They wouldn't have come up against this side of opponent much that will be defending in their own half with 11 men behind the ball. 

"An opponent like that requires you to be patient and work hard for your opportunities.

"There are some good players throughout our squad. We feel we've got a good balance at the moment. They are aware that they have to be ready mentally for this. 

"They've set high standards for themselves, which is pleasing, and they'll need to keep demanding more from each other. We're seeing that in them in training now and our job as the technical staff is to keep that mentality going."

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U17 SQUAD:

Brian Maher (St Patrick's Athletic)

Tom Murphy (Everton)

Cian Lee (St Patrick's Athletic)

Luke Nolan (St Patrick's Athletic)

Lee O'Connor (Manchester Untied)

Dominic Peppard (Bohemians)

Kameron Ledwidge (St Kevin's Boys)

Aaron Bolger (Shamrock Rovers)

Conor Coventry (West Ham United)

Sean Brennan (Belvedere)

Jordan Doherty (Sheffield Utd)

Rowan Roache (Blackpool)

Adam Idah (Corinthians Boys)

Gavin Kilkenny (Bournemouth)

Glen McAuley (Liverpool)

Aaron Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Brandon Kavanagh (Bohemians)

Callum Thompson (St Joseph's Boys)

FIXTURES

UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round Group 2

Saturday, October 15

Kazakhstan v Greece, Centre d’Entrenament FAF, Andorra la Vella (AND) (10.30am Irish)

Republic of Ireland v Andorra, Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella (AND) (3.00pm Irish)

Monday, October 17

Republic of Ireland v Kazakhstan, Centre d’Entrenament FAF, Andorra la Vella (AND) (10.30am)

Greece v Andorra, Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella (AND) (3.00pm)

Thursday, October 20

Greece v Republic of Ireland, Centre d’Entrenament FAF, Andorra la Vella (AND) (11.00am)

Andorra v Kazakhstan, Estadi Comunal, Andorra la Vella (AND) (11.00am)