A remarkable year in the life of young Richie Baker took another of its regular twists yesterday when he was hauled away from training with Mick Neville's under-19 Shelbourne squad in order to join up with Ian Evans's Ireland under-21s up the road at the airport hotel. Now he finds himself plunged into the middle of the Irish under-21 teams' preparations for their match against their Swedish counterparts at Birr Town's ground at 4.0 p.m. today.
Twelve months ago Baker, the younger brother of Tolka Park teammate Dessie, was playing schoolboy soccer with Stella Maris, but since signing with last year's National League runners-up in the close season he has firmly established himself in the first team and quickly carved out a reputation for himself at international level.
Brian Kerr first capped the teenager at under-18 level in last autumn's friendly against England. When the young Dubliner was subsequently included for the UEFA qualifying matches against Cyprus, Russia and Poland, he rewarded the Ireland manager with two of the goals that helped the Republic to the qualification play-offs.
His performance against Northern Ireland in March earned him a call up to the under-20 panel for the World Youth Championships in Nigeria, where he made two appearances. Now Evans looks set to add to the 19-year-old's rapidly growing collection of caps.
"I can't believe it," laughed the 19-year-old winger yesterday. "I was just out training when Ian rang the club and somebody from there got on and told me to come on up here. "I'm getting a bit of a slagging around the club for it all at this stage, they keep telling me that I won't want to talk to them, all I'll want to do is play for Ireland, but I just can't get over it. It's been the best year of my life."
Baker, who came into the panel after West Bromwich Albion's Kevin Kilbane was drafted into the senior squad, hasn't been named in the starting line-up for this afternoon's game, but Evans says that if the referee and the Swedish manager, Thomas Lyth, are both agreeable all 18 of his players will get a run out at some point during the 90 minutes.
Amongst those who will start are Derek O'Connor, Ireland's goalkeeper in Malaysia who is now playing non-league football in England. It will give him a chance to impress the scouts before heading to Tranmere next week for a trial. Central defender Andy O'Brien, a regular starter at Bradford this season who was included in several English underage squads without ever being capped, will also feature.
"I'd talked to him and his dad, who is from Ireland, on a good few occasions and, to be honest, I'd been trying to pinch him for a long time," said Evans yesterday. "Now we've got him in and I'm looking forward to seeing how he and a few of the other newer lads get on out there."
Irish Squad
O'Connor (Bradford Park Avenue); Worrell (Dundee Utd), O'Brien (Bradford City), Hawkins (St Patrick's), Barry Murphy (Cork City); Maybury (Leeds), Morgan (St Patrick's), Mahon (Tranmere), McKeever (Sheffield Wednesday); Fenn (Lincoln City), Clare (Grimsby).
