Two Mayo schoolboys on Ireland squad to face Wales in final Centenary Shield fixture
The Republic of Ireland Schools will play the final fixture of this year’s SAFIB Centenary Shield series when they travel to Briton Ferry to take on Wales tomorrow (Thursday, k.o. 7 p.m.), and there are two Mayo schoolboys in the Irish squad.
Conor Cannon and Conor Reynolds – both of whom are students at Rice College, Westport, and on the books of Sligo Rovers at club level – have been named in the squad for the game.
Cannon made his debut a fortnight ago and will be hoping for more game time against Wales, while Reynolds is one of a number of notable additions to the squad during the course of the campaign.
Debutant Mark Isong (Belvedere College) excelled for his school during a campaign that saw finish runners-up in the Dr. Tony O’Neill Senior National Cup, while Malahide’s Tom McLoughlin also holds his spot having featured last time out alongside Ardscoil na Mara student Jack Ahern. Hugh Parker (Temple Carrig School, Greystones) has recovered from an injury sustained in the English game two weeks ago, and has impressed in all the Centenary Shield fixtures thus far.
Kyle McDonagh (St. Attracta's Community School, Tubbercurry) and Daire Patton (Summerhill College, Sligo), team-mates of Cannon and Reynolds at Sligo Rovers, are both in the Republic of Ireland squad as well.
Northern Ireland have already captured the series win this season with four victories from four games, the most recent coming last Thursday when they defeated Wales 2-1 in Belfast to clinch the silverware.
Marc Williams’ Welsh side were hopeful of a late surge in the competition having won two on the bounce, but Simon Nicks’ Northern Ireland squad just did enough on the night to win out.
Despite last week’s result, the Welsh side are achieved some excellent results. They defeated Scotland 4-2 away from home and continued their rich vein of form to beat rivals England 3-1, but their winning streak ended in Belfast with that narrow loss.
It’s been a disappointing campaign for the Republic of Ireland, which started with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Scotland on the opening night. They unluckily went down 2-1 to Northern Ireland the following week, and a further defeat at the hands of England a fortnight ago (4-0) left the squad a bit deflated.
Irish head coach Derek O’Brien – who is joined on the management team by Ballinrobe native Alan Murphy, a teacher at St. Joseph’s Patrician College, Galway – will be looking to end the campaign on a positive note with a victory against the Welsh.
Last season the Irish were defeated 3-2 by a 90th minute Welsh winner in Ferrycarrig Park, Wexford. Wales went on to share the 2023 Centenary Shield trophy with England after they finished level on points.