Irelands Under 19's to go on the attack

McCaffrey planning to attack

And Ireland manager Sean McCaffrey said they would put their faith in playing attacking football.

“This much I can tell you” he said, “we will set out to play attacking football because this group of players are good in attack.”

“We’ll set our our stall this week to try and get results … we are trying to get them but we are trying to get them with the proper approach.

“We’re trying to marry the development of the players with the desire to get results.”

Ireland will open their campaign on Sunday with a match against Northern Ireland at Turner’s Cross and it will be an immediate trial of strength.

Said McCaffrey; “We’ve seen over the years how competitive matches with the North have been and this one will be just the same. We can expect nothing less.”

A measure of the challenge Ireland will face can be appreciated by reference to the fact that this Northern Ireland squad of players were beaten finalists in the European U17 Championships two years ago.

The top two teams from this qualifying group will advance to Phase two of the qualifying process and McCaffrey said while the aim was to qualify in either position, there would be an advantage for the team finishing first.

The manager dismissed the suggestion that the failure of Ireland’s senior team to qualify for the World Cup finals in Germany would inevitably preface a low-key period at international level.

He suggested the improving domestic league would help more players through the development years; that playing first-team football in Ireland was preferable to being a reserve in England.

He said: “The Eircom League is getting more professional, there are four or five very good clubs there now.

“I go to League One and League two matches in England and there are five or six Eircom League could would beat any of them, that is the truth.

“The key thing is producing the players but the next thing is developing the players. So us producing the players in Cork and Monaghan and Donegal and Dublin and Wicklow, us producing the players and nine and ten years of age is the start of it.

“But then you need to produce more of them at 15 and 16 who are technically better players, more of them, but then at that age the development takes over.

“So although we are charged with producing the young players but then we don’t have that much say in the development of them (when they go to England) … you can advise them, you can advise them on their training, you can help them out there, you can be only a phone call away if things aren’t going well.

“You can try and get them sorted out, get them a trial somewhere else when they are 18 and 19, but you don’t have them five days a week to help their development.

“Kevin Doyle is a case in point. He got his development at Cork City, that’s the reality of it, he came on as a player at Cork City big-time and now he’s got a chance over at Reading and he’s got into the senior international squad.

“So there is no problem with youngsters going over that bit older as long as they are with good clubs here and that they are developing.”

He said he did not believe there was a crisis now in Irish football … “I don’t think it is all doom and gloom.

“If we had scored the other night and won the match and were going to the World Cup the talk would now be about winning it” he said ruefully, “it is a very fine line (between success and failure).”

Irish fans will get the chance to see what the future holds for Ireland a couple of years down the line when Ireland’s U19 go into action next week.

The fixtures are:

Sunday: Ireland v Northern Ireland, Turner’s Cross 7 pm

Italy v Moldova, Midleton 2.30 pm

Tuesday: Northern Ireland v Italy, Midleton 2.30

Ireland v Moldova, Cobh 7 pm.

Tursday: Ireland v Italy, Turner’s Cross 7 pm.

Northern Ireland v Moldova, Cobh 7 pm.