EC Qualifying Round
24.10.2013 at 14:00 - Sargsyan, Yerevan
REPUBLIC of Ireland U17 Head Coach Tom Mohan has announced his squad for the forthcoming UEFA U17 Championships Qualifying Round Group 7 mini-tournament in Armenia.
Mohan has handed first time call-ups to Cherry Orchard defender Maxime Kouogun, Shamrock Rovers midfielder Thomas Tiernan and Millwall winger Alex Mulrooney-Skinner.
Ireland meet Gibraltar in that nation's first ever competitive U17 international next Thursday, October 24, then meet hosts Armenia on Saturday, October 26, before finishing against England on Tuesday, October 29.
"We will head to Armenia with a positive attitude. A lot of the players played in the U16 side under Tom O'Connor last season and gained good experience against top sides," said Mohan.
"They recorded some great results in those games we're looking for the same qualities to shine through next week.
"It's Gibraltar's first time in the tournament. They're a small country but they have their players together a lot. It's our first game and the only one we can focus on. They haven't played any friendlies that we're aware of and we'll have to treat them with utmost respect. Our U19s played a Gibraltar select including some older players last season and only won 1-0 so we know they can put together difficult sides to play against.
"Armenia are a developing nation and have put a lot into developing their structures and player development. They are technically very good and from what we've seen of them have plenty of quick attacking players.
"England are very strong this year. I saw them against Turkey and they were very impressive."
After steering Ireland to the Elite Phase last year, Mohan knows that this level of the competition is a new test for the players as it is their first taste of competitive international football.
"It's new to the players, the added pressure of UEFA competition, and they've got to deal with that," he said.
"We also have some new players coming in to win their first caps and we'll see how they deal with that too. I'm confident the players we have will adjust to the level.
"Since our friendly games against Slovakia last month we've played two matches against the Irish Schools U18s and Shamrock Rovers U19s which gave more players an opportunity to be looked at. It was a very close call for a lot of players. The staff and myself looked at lot of players over the past couple of months and we're hopeful that the squad we've picked can go to Armenia and do well."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U17 SQUAD
James Talbot (Sunderland AFC)
Colin McCabe (Celtic FC)
Nathan Benson (Crumlin United FC)
Anto Breslin (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC)
Dan Casey (Sunderland AFC)
Corey Whelan (Liverpool FC)
Danny Kane (Huddersfield Town FC)
Maxime Kouogun (Cherry Orchard FC)
Robert Duggan (Peterborough United FC)
Georgie Poynton (Dundalk FC)
Tom Holland (Manchester City FC)
Thomas Tiernan (Shamrock Rovers FC)
Nathan Corkery (QPR FC)
Shane Elworthy (Fulham FC)
Steven Kinsella (Templeogue United FC)
Alex Mulrooney-Skinner (Millwall FC)
Jessie Devers (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC)
Cemal Ramadan (Ipswich Town FC)
FIXTURES
Thursday, October 24
Republic of Ireland v Gibraltar, Yerevan (ARM) (2.00pm).
Saturday, October 26
Republic of Ireland v Armenia, Yerevan (ARM) (2.00pm)
Tuesday, October 29
Republic of Ireland v England, Yerevan (ARM) (12.00pm)
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