Mayo resident in Ireland squad for Sweden friendly matches in Spain
Ireland’s head coach for men under 18, Colin O’Brien, has appointed a 22-man squad for a friendly match against Sweden in Marbella this week.
The squad includes Mayos Conor Walsh, born in Westport, who now plays football with Sligo Rovers.
Ireland is in southern Spain for two matches against the Swedes when O’Brien assesses available alternatives for him.
This double painting follows two friendly matches for his team in Hungary in August. These matches ended with Ireland winning the first match 2-0 and a draw the second 2-2.
O’Brien will be looking for an equally challenging test with matches against Sweden on Thursday (November 11) and Sunday (November 14), both starting at 2.30 pm Irish time.
Goalkeeper Walsh was in the Irish squad for three UEFA U17 European Championship qualifiers last month, as was his Rovers team-mate Daniel Kelly, another Westport native and, like Conor, a former Westport United player.
Ireland’s under 18 men’s squad for this week’s friendlies are: goalkeepers – Stephen McMullan (Warrenpoint), Conor Walsh (Sligo Rovers); defenders – Ben Curtis (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Tommy Fogarty (Birmingham City), Cathal Heffernan (Cork City), Alex Murphy (Galway United), Harry Nevin (Preston North End), John Ryan (Shamrock Rovers), Josh Seary ( Preston North End), David Toure (Shelbourne); midfielders – Conor Barrett (Birmingham City), Billy Brooks (Lincoln City), Cian Coleman (Leeds United), Justin Ferizaj (Shamrock Rovers), Joshua Ireland (Stoke City), Rocco Vata (Celtic), Harry Vaughan (Oldham Athletic); forwards – Edwin Agbaje (Ipswich Town), Tom Lonergan (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Rio McEvoy (Bolton Wanderers), Luke Pearce (Southampton), Ben Quinn (Celtic).
Meanwhile, another Rovers goalkeeper (currently on loan at Cliftonville) who comes from Mayo, former Manulla player Luke McNicholas, is in Ireland’s under-21 squad for two upcoming UEFA European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Sweden, both at Tallaght Stadium . The match against Italy is on Friday (November 12) at 5.30 pm while the clash with Sweden is on Tuesday (November 16) at 7 pm, and both will be shown live on RTÉ 2.
Elsewhere, another Sligo Rovers player, Johnny Kenny, played when Ireland survived a late scare to start their Group 6 campaign in the UEFA Under 19 Championship qualifiers with a 3-2 victory over Montenegro today. Sinclair Armstrong scored two while Kenny was also on target when Ireland went up 3-0 in the second half before Montenegro scored two goals in overtime.
In the next match, Ireland will face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday (November 13) before concluding their qualifying group against hosts Bulgaria on Tuesday (November 16).