Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has named three uncapped players to his squad for the Nations League playoffs against Bulgaria. James Abankwah, Rocco Vata, both from Watford, and QPR’s Jimmy Dunne are included in the 23-man squad that traveled to Plovidiv for today's first leg (3:45 p.m. Eastern), followed by the second leg in Dublin on Sunday night.
Defender Avbankwah was born in Waterford and played for junior clubs in Letterkenny and Longford before joining Dublin schoolboy club Cherry Orchard. He later had a season with St Patrick’s Athletic before joining Italian club Udinese and the 21-year-old is now loan to the English Championship club.
Nineteen-year-old midfielder Vata is the son of former Celtic and Albanian footballer Rudi Vata. He joined Watford from Celtic in July last year. Although, he is qualified to play for Scotland, Albania and Montenegro, he opted for Ireland through his grandmother and has already been capped at youth and under-21 level. Dunne, who is from Dundalk, is also a defender and has been capped twice at under 21 level.
Goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, who is now on loan from Southampton to Belgian club Standard Liege, is also recalled after injury. He won the last of his 20 caps against Switzerland in March last year. A few players are unavailable through injury and overall there are 11 changes from the last squad named by the Icelandic-born manager in November. Bulgaria finished 2nd in Group C and need a win to get promotion to Group B, while The Republic, who finished third in Group B, need a win to hold on to Group B status. Hallgrimsson reckons Bulgaria will be tough to break down. He said: ‘‘They have been impressive in their 12 games since Illiev was hired as a coach, and they have only lost one game and that was a real outlier away to Northern Ireland where they were missing four or five starters. They are tough team and it’s going to be a physical battle. They are compact and hard to break down, so that will be a good test for us. It’s important to win these two matches, but of course, the big event to look forward to is the start of the World Cup qualifiers which start in September. We hope to have two friendlies in June to look at other players.’’
Goalkeepers: Caoimhín Kelleher (Liverpool), Mark Travers (Middlesbrough, on loan from AFC Bournemouth), Gavin Bazunu (Standard Liége, on loan from Southampton).
Defenders: Jake O'Brien (Everton), Matt Doherty (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nathan Collins (Brentford), Dara O'Shea (Ipswich Town), Jimmy Dunne (Queens Park Rangers), James Abankwah (Watford, on loan from Udinese), Robbie Brady (Preston North End), Ryan Manning (Southampton).
Midfielders: Josh Cullen (Burnley), Jason Knight (Bristol City), Jack Taylor (Ipswich Town), Mark Sykes (Bristol City), Finn Azaz (Middlesbrough), Andrew Moran (Stoke City, on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion).
Attackers: Evan Ferguson (West Ham United, on loan from Brighton and Hove Albion), Adam Idah (Celtic), Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar), Sinclair Armstrong (Bristol City), Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion), Rocco Vata (Watford).
POOR RECORD IN
NATIONS LEAGUE
Down through the decades we have done reasonably well in European Championship and World Cup qualifying games, but our record in the new Nations League is very poor. Our first game in the new competition, which replaced friendly games, was a 4-1 defeat to Wales in Sept 2018, and our record now in the competition reads: P22, W4, D6, L12.
Also of interest this week is the Nations League quarter-final between Denmark and Portugal with the winners slotting into the Republic’s World Cup qualifying group. The first leg is in Copenhagen tomorrow and the second leg in Lisbon on Sunday. Meanwhile Northern Ireland, who are already promoted to Group B of the Nations League, play Switzerland in a friendly at Windsor Park on Friday.
‘CITY LOSES TOO
MANY FOOTBALLS’
Mick Ring, the former chairman of Cork City, says the club could potentially be paying over €7,000 a season replacing lost matchday footballs, due to members of the crowd stealing them. Ring was chairman of the club under the ownership of supporters trust FORAS, but for the last number of years has been kit man for the League of Ireland Premier Division side. He said: ‘‘For the ordinary punter the balls cost €80, but we get them subsidised at €50. But if you lose eight balls on a match-day night that’s €400, whereas in the past a player would be shouting into the crowd to get the ball back.”
RORY DOESN’T SEE
VERY LONG CAREER
As Tiger Woods begins his recovery from yet another injury, Ireland’s Rory McIlroy says he has no plans to extend his own career into his 50s. Woods, will be 50 in December, ruptured an Achilles while training at home last week and McIlroy reckons that we won’t see Tiger play in any of the majors this year. McIlroy, who will be 36 in May, has a clear idea of his professional longevity. Speaking last week before the start of the Players Championship, McIlroy said: ‘‘I am very happy to move aside for the younger generation to come through. I turned pro in 2007 and I am 18 years into my professional career. Not many athletes can say that they have had an 18-year career at the age of 35. I would like to walk away with a little bit left in the tank and I don’t envisage playing Champions Tour golf. Something will have gone terribly wrong if I have to compete at golf at the age of 50."
UNITED VENUE
PLANS UNVEILED
Manchester United’s part owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is rarely out of the news. Last week the millionaire, who bought a 28.94 per cent share in the club from the Glazer family, said that United would have been “bust by Christmas” this year if he had not implemented a major redundancy and cost-cutting plan. The following day he announced plans to build a new 100,000-capacity stadium in the Old Trafford area, leaving their home of 115 years. The news was celebrated by United as a potential driving force for renewal in the area as they revealed plans which, officials claim, will create as many as 92,000 jobs and 17,000 new homes in Greater Manchester. United estimate the cost of building the stadium to be £2 billion and are aiming to complete it within five years. Ratcliffe said: “With a regeneration project of this scale, it needs to have a catalyst or a nucleus, otherwise it just becomes a new housing estate or a shopping center. The more iconic or the more extraordinary that the stadium is, the more successful the regeneration scheme will be. I think a really good example is the Eiffel Tower. Everyone around the world knows the Eiffel Tower: you go to Paris, you stay in Paris, you spend money. We have one billion people around the world who follow Manchester United. I think everybody in the world who is interested in football will want to visit Old Trafford. Ratcliffe said government money will be needed for the regeneration scheme. The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, threw his weight behind the plan. He said: “If we get this right, the regeneration impact could be bigger and better than London 2012. Manchester United could, and indeed should, have the best football stadium in the world.’’
BILL MULCAHY, 90
The death occurred recently of former Irish rugby international Bill Mulcahy at the age of 90. From Rathkeale in County Limerick, Bill attended St. Munchin’s College and won 35 Ireland caps. He also toured twice with the British and Irish Lions, in 1959 to Australia and New Zealand and in 1962 to South Africa. In a long and decorated rugby career Mulcahy played for UL Bohemian, UCD, Bective Rangers, St. Vincent’s Hospital and had a long association with Skerries RFC where he and his family lived.
The death also occurred of former Galway footballer Billy Joyce, at age 75. A native of Killererin, Joyce enjoyed a lengthy inter-county career from 1969 until his retirement at the end of the 1984 championship. During his career, Galway won eight Connacht titles and Billy played in four All-Ireland finals, but Galway lost all four. He started the 1971, 1973 and 1974 finals and was a sub in 1983 when Galway lost to Dublin’s 12 men. He later managed the Galway senior footballers for three seasons in the late 1980s, guiding them to a Connacht title victory in 1987. Billy was an uncle of current Galway manager Pádraic Joyce.
