Mayo native in Ireland squad for Sweden friendlies in Spain
Republic of Ireland men's Under 18 head coach Colin O'Brien has named a 22-man squad for a friendly double-header against Sweden in Marbella this week.
The squad features Mayo's Conor Walsh, a native of Westport who now plays his football with Sligo Rovers.
Ireland are in southern Spain for two games against the Swedes as O'Brien assesses options available to him.
This double-header follows two friendlies for his side in Hungary in August. Those games ended with Ireland winning the first game 2-0 and drawing the second 2-2.
O'Brien will be looking for an equally challenging test with games against Sweden on Thursday (November 11) and Sunday (November 14), both kicking off at 2.30 p.m. Irish time.
Goalkeeper Walsh was in the Ireland squad for three UEFA Under 17 European Championship qualifiers last month, as was his Rovers team-mate Daniel Kelly, another Westport native and, like Conor, a former Westport United player.
The Republic of Ireland men’s Under 18 squad for this week's friendlies is: 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 hails from Mayo, former Manulla player Luke McNicholas, is in the Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad for two upcoming home UEFA European Championship qualifiers against Italy and Sweden, both in Tallaght Stadium. The game against Italy is on Friday (November 12) at 5.30 p.m. while the clash with Sweden is on Tuesday (November 16) at 7 p.m., and both will be shown live on RTÉ 2.
Elsewhere, another Sligo Rovers player, Johnny Kenny, starred as Ireland survived a late scare to begin their Group 6 campaign of the UEFA Under 19 Championship qualifiers with a 3-2 win over Montenegro today. Sinclair Armstrong scored two while Kenny was also on the scoresheet as Ireland went 3-0 up in the second half before Montenegro scored two goals in injury time.
Ireland’s next game sees them take on Bosnia & Herzegovina on Saturday (November 13) before they finish up their qualification group against hosts Bulgaria on Tuesday (November 16).