Doolin delighted with U23 preparations
Credit:
Republic of Ireland Under-23 manager Paul Doolin has told of his
delight with how his side’s preparations have gone over the last few
days, having assembled his squad on Sunday in Waterford ahead of
Wednesday International Challenge Trophy match against England in the
RSC.
Ahead of the match, Doolin spoke to Extratime about his side’s progress in training and the tough decision of picking a starting eleven.
“Preparation has been very good. The pitch here has been great”, Doolin said. “I came down here five or six weeks ago and had a look around, I spoke to Paul and Tommy [Of Tramore AFC] and they assured me that the pitch would be very good. It was good then but now it’s fantastic.”
“It’s been very good, the hotel has been excellent, and also nobody could have envisaged the weather so everything’s very good, all we need now is a result.”
With just two games in the group stages of the competition, the former Cork City and Drogheda manager believes getting a good result in the first game is very important.
“I think when you’re at under age level, and it’s my first involvement with it and it’s been great, the main thing is tomorrow evening. It’s about getting the result, you want to do well in the competition. We only have two games, we’d like four, but we would like to start with a good result tomorrow.”
Doolin believes the versatile squad he has chosen will allow him use players in various positions, something he admits they have been working on.
“Yeah, you probably would have a starting eleven in your head. The good thing about the squad is that we can pick various players in positions. Take for example the left side, we’ve Billy Dennehy, you can put Gary McCabe there, you can put Ross Gaynor there, or even put McCabe on the right, so there’s good variations of players we can use, which is great and the last few days we’ve tried to work on that.”
The captain’s spot is still up for grabs for the match on Wednesday evening. Doolin believes it is more difficult to choose a captain with his new squad being together such a short space of time, and without serious experience in International football in it.
“When you’re looking for a captain, you’re always looking for the most experienced player, but when you are a new team, it’s more difficult. There’s a couple of fella’s that could be there. Stephen [O’Donnell] took us out last week but we’ll wait and see on Wednesday.”
Despite a couple of slight knocks, Doolin believes that he should have all 20 players available to him for Wednesday’s match. He has already replaced Karl Shappard [Moved to Ireland Under-19’s] and Ian Bermingham [Achilles injury] with Shaun Kelly and Lorcan Fitzgerald. Robert Duggan sat out training yesterday but took part today. Kenny Browne [Flu] also trained today and should okay.
“We had a bit of a problem with Seamus Conneely but he trained today and seems okay, Garry Breen didn’t play against the Seniors but came through his game with Dundalk so he’s okay. Robert Duggan has a little bit of a shoulder problem, but apart from that we’re okay.”
Ahead of the match, Doolin spoke to Extratime about his side’s progress in training and the tough decision of picking a starting eleven.
“Preparation has been very good. The pitch here has been great”, Doolin said. “I came down here five or six weeks ago and had a look around, I spoke to Paul and Tommy [Of Tramore AFC] and they assured me that the pitch would be very good. It was good then but now it’s fantastic.”
“It’s been very good, the hotel has been excellent, and also nobody could have envisaged the weather so everything’s very good, all we need now is a result.”
With just two games in the group stages of the competition, the former Cork City and Drogheda manager believes getting a good result in the first game is very important.
“I think when you’re at under age level, and it’s my first involvement with it and it’s been great, the main thing is tomorrow evening. It’s about getting the result, you want to do well in the competition. We only have two games, we’d like four, but we would like to start with a good result tomorrow.”
Doolin believes the versatile squad he has chosen will allow him use players in various positions, something he admits they have been working on.
“Yeah, you probably would have a starting eleven in your head. The good thing about the squad is that we can pick various players in positions. Take for example the left side, we’ve Billy Dennehy, you can put Gary McCabe there, you can put Ross Gaynor there, or even put McCabe on the right, so there’s good variations of players we can use, which is great and the last few days we’ve tried to work on that.”
The captain’s spot is still up for grabs for the match on Wednesday evening. Doolin believes it is more difficult to choose a captain with his new squad being together such a short space of time, and without serious experience in International football in it.
“When you’re looking for a captain, you’re always looking for the most experienced player, but when you are a new team, it’s more difficult. There’s a couple of fella’s that could be there. Stephen [O’Donnell] took us out last week but we’ll wait and see on Wednesday.”
Despite a couple of slight knocks, Doolin believes that he should have all 20 players available to him for Wednesday’s match. He has already replaced Karl Shappard [Moved to Ireland Under-19’s] and Ian Bermingham [Achilles injury] with Shaun Kelly and Lorcan Fitzgerald. Robert Duggan sat out training yesterday but took part today. Kenny Browne [Flu] also trained today and should okay.
“We had a bit of a problem with Seamus Conneely but he trained today and seems okay, Garry Breen didn’t play against the Seniors but came through his game with Dundalk so he’s okay. Robert Duggan has a little bit of a shoulder problem, but apart from that we’re okay.”
About Brendan White
Brendan White is Extratime News Editor and is responsible for the news section of Extratime.ie. Brendan also covers matches in Dublin and Waterford. You can contact Brendan on twitter @whitebrendan. View Full Profile