Meath players in republic u16 panel for victory shield

Three players from Meath have been included in the Republic of Ireland u-16 panel by head coach Paul Osam for the forthcoming Victory Shield tournament which takes place in Wales from 1st - 5th November.

Cian Lee and Dominic Peppard from Trim and Cian Hughes from Ratoath have retained their places in the squad after a good showing in the Mayo International Cup in August and will face Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland next week in the tournament.

Unlike previous years, the tournament will be played in a five-day spell rather than on a month by month basis. A number of players have also been called into an Ireland squad for the first time including Malaga CF midfielder Marcus Rowley and Vfl Wolfsburg's Niklas Baylor, both of whom have Irish fathers.

 'I'm looking to learn about the players that we've selected this time around, but it's a long process not just a squad for this tournament, it's about working with the players so that we have a squad to hand over to Tom Mohan for the UEFA U-17 qualifiers next season,' said Osam.

'We've players from outside the jurisdiction, Marcus from Malaga and Niklas from Wolfsburg. It will be interesting to see how they fare but they're there on merit. They did well in the assessment process and I'm interested to see how they look in the games.

'It's not about winning the Victory Shield although it's always nice to win. The goal for these players is to play in the UEFA Championships Qualifiers with Tom Mohan next season and this is part of that process,' he concluded.

 

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U16 SQUAD:

Cian Hughes (St Francis)

Cian Lee (Belvedere)

Dominic Peppard (St Joseph's Boys)

Aaron Bolger (St Joseph's Boys)

Aaron Connolly (Mervue Utd)

Aaron McColgan (Derry City)

Alex Kelly (Belvedere)

Brian Maher (St Kevin's Boys)

Darryl Walsh (Waterford United)

James Jennings (St Francis)

Jonathan Afalabi (St Joseph's Boys)

Jordan Doherty (Sheffield Utd)

Kevin Healy (Belvedere)

Lee O'Connor (Villa FC)

Lorcan Callaghan (Sligo Rovers)

Luke Nolan (St Patrick's Athletic)

Luke O'Brien (Crumlin Utd)

Marcus Rowley (Malaga CF)

Niklas Baylor (Vfl Wolfsburg)

Thomas Caffrey (St Francis)

 

FIXTURES

Sunday 1st November

Northern Ireland v Republic of Ireland, Newport Stadium (2pm)

Tuesday 3rd November

Wales v Republic of Ireland, Dragon Park, Newport (4pm)

Thursday 5th November

Scotland v Republic of Ireland, Newport Stadium (2pm)