Friendly
07.09.2015 at 15:00 - Cava de'Tirreni
Paul Doolin wants his Republic of Ireland Under 19s to make the most of their friendly against Italy in Cava de Tirreni on Monday.
This fixture will be the first chance for Doolin to start preparations for Novembers UEFA U19 European Championship Qualifying Round games against Slovenia, Latvia, and Scotland.
The target is to qualify for next summers tournament in Germany, but Ireland know that they must make the most of their time together and that is why this game against Italy is so important.
"It is a great game to have. Italy are very, very good at underage teams. We have played them once since I have been involved and that was in the qualifiers back in 2010 when we beat them 3-0 to qualify for the Under 19 finals," said Doolin.
"We played two friendlies back in December against Portugal and then we had a couple of games in Luxembourg at the end of June and we were only okay.
"It is difficult to qualify with the 19s because only one team comes out of the group, so you have no margin at all for error in the Elite Phase."
Doolin possesses an excellent record in qualifying with the Ireland U19 team, but he admits that it has only become tougher to reach the finals with so many nations competing for limited spots.
Still, he is upbeat about his teams chances and is focused on this first game of their season. He will, however, be without the injured duo Ryan Sweeney and Dom Bernard, while Corey Whelan is unavailable.
Republic of Ireland Under 19 Squad:
Colin McCabe (Celtic)
James Talbot (Sunderland)
Jack Tuite (Derby County)
Danny Kane (Huddersfield Town)
Tom Cadman (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Dan Casey (Sunderland)
Robbie McCourt (West Bromwich Albion)
Anto Breslin (Wolves)
Tom Holland (Swansea City)
Anto Dolan (Fulham)
Adam McDonnell (Ipswich Town)
Daire O Connor (UCD AFC)
Connor Ellis (Cork City)
Graham Kelly (Sheffield United)
Dylan Watts (UCD AFC)
Kyron Farrell (Millwall)
Khius Metz (Burnley)
Shane Elworthy (Fulham)
Nathan Corkery (QPR)
George Poynton (Dundalk)
FIXTURE
Monday, September 7
Under 19 International Friendly
Italy v Republic of Ireland, Stadio Simonetta Lamberti, Cava de Tirreni (5.00pm Irish time)
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