Sam Curtis in Republic of Ireland u-17 panel

Former Parkvilla and current St Patrick's Athletic player Sam Curtis has been included in the Republic of Ireland u-17 panel by head coach Colin O’Brien for two friendlies against Mexico at Turner’s Cross, Cork on Sunday and Tuesday.

Curtis started playing at under-age with Navan club Parkvilla before moving to St Kevin's Boys and then to Shamrock Rovers before a move to St Pat's two months ago.

In mid-August he featured on the St Pat's first team in the League of Ireland Premier Division when he was introduced as a late substitute in the 2-1 win against Waterford.

He is the youngest player to line out at senior level for St Pat's and on his debut on Friday 13th August checked in at 15 years and 255 days.

For the international action Curtis is just one of 16 players from League of Ireland clubs with the remaining quartet featuring one player each from Klub Kildare, Celtic, Inter Milan and Villareal.

It will be final preparation for the U17s ahead of their UEFA Under-17 European Championship qualifiers which take place in Cork in October.

The Republic of Ireland will face face North Macedonia, Poland and Andorra in the first round of qualifiers.

Speaking ahead of the games against Mexico, O’Brien said:

“To get this level of opposition is a real huge plus for us.

"Mexico is a real powerhouse at this age group if you research and examine their age groups in the past couple of years they’re a World Cup standard team.

“It’s a very ‘home-based squad’ and it’s the first squad we’re going to see around the Brexit situation.

"The players are well into their season and we’ve done a lot of home-based assessments and training camps over the last few months and a lot of games watched.

“We have 20 players ready to represent the Republic of Ireland under-17s against high-level opposition so the players are going to be really tested here, both collectively and individually, and it will give them a good measure to where they’re at.”

A limited number of fans will have the chance to catch a glimpse of the next generation of Irish internationals with 600 free tickets made available for spectators.

UNDER-17 PANEL

Goalkeepers: Fintan Doherty (Derry City), Conor Walsh (Sligo Rovers)

Defenders: Luke Browne (Shelbourne), Sam Curtis (St. Patrick's Athletic), Cathal Heffernan (Cork City), Ruadhan Kane (Klub Kildare), Daniel Kelly (Sligo Rovers), Luke O'Brien (St. Patrick's Athletic)

Midfielders: Justin Ferizaj (Shamrock Rovers), Gavin Hodgins (Shelbourne), Darius Lipsivc (St. Patrick's Athletic), James McManus (Bohemians), Rocco Vata (Celtic)

Forwards:Trent Kone Doherty (Derry City), Mark O'Mahony (Cork City), Caden McLoughlin (Villareal), Liam Murray (Cork City), Alex Nolan (St. Patrick's Athletic), Franco Umeh (Cork City), Kevin Zefi (Inter Milan)

FIXTURES

Sunday 5th September - Republic of Ireland v Mexico, 7pm

Tuesday 7th September - Republic of Ireland v Mexico, 12pm

SEPARATELY

In the 𝙐𝙀𝙁𝘼 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙏𝙃 𝙇𝙀𝘼𝙂𝙐𝙀

St Pat's will play Red Star (Crvena Zvezda)

First leg: Wednesday 29th September (home)

Second leg: Monday 20th October (away)