King names U21 squad for Portugal trip
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Noel King has named a 17-man strong squad to travel to Portugal for an U21 International friendly on March 25.
The Young Boys in Green will play the Portuguese in Águeda on Friday week, with two new players joining the squad, Coventry City ‘keeper Michael Quirke and Adam Barton from Preston North End. Another interesting addition is exciting prospect Conor Henderson, who appeared for the Arsenal first team recently.
There is, as expected, no domestic based player however, as King continues to focus the most of his attention on players playing cross-channel.
“This friendly against Portugal is a key element to our preparation for the European Championships which begin on September 1 at home to Hungary in Sligo. We have made a number of changes to the squad, purely to look at as many of our players as possible ahead of the campaign,” King said today, after making eight alterations from his last squad (against Cyprus last month) for the trip to the Mediterranean.
“While we would like to bring every player in to the squad, it is not possible and just because there are a number of key players not included in this group, it does not mean we are not still looking at them.
“Portugal are a talented side and include players such as Manchester United star, Bébé and their recent 3-1 victory over Sweden proves that they will be a big test for us. After the Portugal match, we have one remaining friendly against Austria in August which means that we will have to take every available opportunity to fine-tune our preparation ahead of the European Championship qualifiers,” added King.
The squad in full is:
Ian McLoughlin - Stockport County FC (on loan from Ipswich Town); Michael Quirke - Coventry City FC; Richie Towell - Hibernian FC (on loan from Celtic) Shane Duffy - Everton FC; Gavin Gunning - Motherwell FC (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) Shane O’Connor - Ipswich Town FC; Rob Kiernan - Wycombe Wanderers FC (on loan from Watford) Damian McCrory - Dagenham & Redbridge FC; Adam Barton - Preston North End FC; Mark Connolly - Bolton Wanderers FC; Conor Henderson - Arsenal FC; Jamie Devitt - Hull City FC; Sean Scannell - Crystal Palace FC; Conor Clifford - Chelsea FC; James Collins - Shrewsbury Town FC; Joe Mason - Plymouth Argyle FC; Paddy Madden - Carlisle United FC.
The Young Boys in Green will play the Portuguese in Águeda on Friday week, with two new players joining the squad, Coventry City ‘keeper Michael Quirke and Adam Barton from Preston North End. Another interesting addition is exciting prospect Conor Henderson, who appeared for the Arsenal first team recently.
There is, as expected, no domestic based player however, as King continues to focus the most of his attention on players playing cross-channel.
“This friendly against Portugal is a key element to our preparation for the European Championships which begin on September 1 at home to Hungary in Sligo. We have made a number of changes to the squad, purely to look at as many of our players as possible ahead of the campaign,” King said today, after making eight alterations from his last squad (against Cyprus last month) for the trip to the Mediterranean.
“While we would like to bring every player in to the squad, it is not possible and just because there are a number of key players not included in this group, it does not mean we are not still looking at them.
“Portugal are a talented side and include players such as Manchester United star, Bébé and their recent 3-1 victory over Sweden proves that they will be a big test for us. After the Portugal match, we have one remaining friendly against Austria in August which means that we will have to take every available opportunity to fine-tune our preparation ahead of the European Championship qualifiers,” added King.
The squad in full is:
Ian McLoughlin - Stockport County FC (on loan from Ipswich Town); Michael Quirke - Coventry City FC; Richie Towell - Hibernian FC (on loan from Celtic) Shane Duffy - Everton FC; Gavin Gunning - Motherwell FC (on loan from Blackburn Rovers) Shane O’Connor - Ipswich Town FC; Rob Kiernan - Wycombe Wanderers FC (on loan from Watford) Damian McCrory - Dagenham & Redbridge FC; Adam Barton - Preston North End FC; Mark Connolly - Bolton Wanderers FC; Conor Henderson - Arsenal FC; Jamie Devitt - Hull City FC; Sean Scannell - Crystal Palace FC; Conor Clifford - Chelsea FC; James Collins - Shrewsbury Town FC; Joe Mason - Plymouth Argyle FC; Paddy Madden - Carlisle United FC.
About Alan Smith
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