U21 Absentees

Two recent defeats for Ireland's U21 - losing 4-1 to Italy and 3-1 to Slovenia - saw some predictable media hand wringing about the make-up of the team. One of the more commonly raised points was that only four of the starting XI against Italy were born in Ireland. While this is true (and slightly debatable since goalkeeper Daniel Rogers was born in America but raised in Ireland), we think the media, instead of criticising those who did take part, should have been asking if the best players available had been selected to begin with - after all, this is a favourite topic of journalists when the senior squad is announced by Martin O'Neill, or any of  his predecessor.

First, the unavailable players, Preston's combative Cork-born midfielder Alan Browne was named in the original squad, but had to withdraw due to injury, and Dubliner Sam Byrne of Everton recently broke his leg in training. Full back Sean Kavanagh was suspended after being sent off in the meeting between Ireland and Lithuania in October. All are regulars in the underage setup, and there can't be any complaints about their omission - that's just football. Also unavailable due to injury was Liverpool's Daniel Cleary, who was included on the bench by Brendan Rogers in a Europa League game earlier this season, but strangely hasn't featured for any underage side since May 2014.

We've looked through the squads in the Professional U21 League Divisions 1 and 2 in England, and noticed the following

The strange absence of Liverpool's academy and reserve players at underage level has been discussed on the site before. Alex O'Hanlon was training with Jurgen Klopp and the Liverpool senior team (or at least their squad members who were not in international duty) in Spain during the U21 games, and came off the bench for an assist on the opening goal in a reserve game against Reading the weekend after the qualifiers.

Reading FC have quite a few Irish players in their U21 side at the moment - Pierce Sweeney, Sean Long, Shane Griffin, Niall Keown, Liam Kelly and Conor Shaughnessy. Kelly and Long are currently out on loan - Kelly is at Bath City, finding the back of the net four times from midfield, while Long is with Braintree in the Nation League. Joshua Barrett who was called into the Ireland U21 squad despite being only 17! Clearly the Irish management team are monitoring the Reading side, so why were Kelly and Shaughnessy omitted?

Aston Villa's 19 year old centre half Kevin Toner made his first appearance in the Villains senior matchday squad as an unused substitute against Bournemouth earlier this month. After serving a suspension from the under 19's elite qualifiers in late 2015, he was available again but not included in the squad

Ryan Rainey of Wolves recently signed a one year extension to his current deal, but hasn't been involved with the national side since an U18 friendly with the Czech Republic in 2014

Stoke City reserves Ryan O'Reilly and Bobby Moseley are both out on loan at the moment, at Wrexham and in the States with San Antonio FC. O'Reilly hasn't been in an Ireland squad since 2013, but Moseley is a regular in underage sides, last appearing for the under 19's in the elite qualifying stage a year a go. Their fellow Potter, Bedford-born Mason Watkins-Clark is playing and scoring in the reserves, a recent finish sent their U21 side to the Final Development League Cup North Final.

In the league of Ireland, Celtic defender Eoghan O'Connell is currently on loan at Cork City, playing alongside U21 squad member Kevin O'Connor, while Shamrock Rovers striker Michael Drennan is still eligible for these qualifiers.

So, while the two losses and the statistic about the lineup were disappointing to say the least, should there be more asked of the manager about the players listed above?