Soccer
O'Brien Names U15 Squad for Poland Friendlies
By Pat Quigley & Stephen Finn
9, Nov 2014 - 10:53

REPUBLIC of Ireland U15 Head Coach Colin O'Brien has named his squad for two friendly games against Poland next week.

The Irish will meet their Polish counterparts on Tuesday, November 11, in Mniow (2.30pm) then two days later the sides will meet again in Strawczyn (12.00pm).

"It's our first time to play Poland at this level so it will be an interesting game for the players to compare themselves with their counterparts from Poland," said O'Brien.

"This is their first opportunity to play as a side and for us to assess how they carry out what we've asked them to do when we have the ball and when the opponents are in possession.

"We've spent a lot of time working on identifying and scouting these players. The process includes from the ETP centres nationwide to the Kennedy Cup competition during the summer where every team was watched at least five times by FAI staff.

"After that players were brought together for national assessment and from that 36 players came together and trained. 18 of those players will travel to Poland next week and the other 18 will have another development fixture in the coming weeks."

Ireland will also face Scotland and the Netherlands at U15 level this season.

Interesting members of this squad include Thierry Baba and Ronan Manning, whose brothers Noe and Ryan are both in the Ireland U19 squad that will play in the UEFA qualifiers next week.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U15s SQUAD:

Tom Murphy (St Joseph's Boys)

Lorcan Callaghan (Strand Celtic)

Thierry Baba (Castlebar Celtic)

Kevin Healy (Belvedere FC)

Dominic Peppard (St Joseph's Boys)

Lee O'Connor (Villa FC)

Luke Nolan (St Kevin's Boys)

Joe Dwyer (Tullamore Town)

Aaron Bolger (St Joseph's Boys)

Charlie Barry (St Francis FC)

Mark Kelly (St Joseph's Boys)

Jack Owens (Emo Celtic)

Cian Hughes (St Francis FC)

Aaron McColgan (QPS)

Aaron Connolly (Mervue United)

Glen McAuley (St Joseph's Boys)

Ronan Manning (Mervue United)

Cian Murphy (St Michael's Boys)

FIXTURES

Tuesday, November 11

U15 International Friendly

Poland v Republic of Ireland, Mniow Stadium (2.30pm)

Thursday, November 13

U15 International Friendly

Poland v Republic of Ireland, Strawczyn Stadium (12.00pm)