Niall Keown heads the list of newcomers to Noel King's Irish under-21 squad for the team's first qualifying game of the new European Championship campaign which has been named in Waterford.
The 20 year-old son of former England international Martin, says that declaring for Ireland "wasn't a big decision for him" and King says selecting the Reading right-back was an easy one for him with the player's performances over the past year or so marking him out as a significant prospect for the future.
“He’s a good solid defender, strong and good in the air,” says King, whose side will take on Andorra in Waterford on March 26th. “His father is very supportive which is always a good thing but what’s more important is that Niall has a really good attitude, he’s a very committed lad and I think he’s earned the right to be judged on his own merits. He can play at right back or in the centre of the defence and he’s something of a throwback in his style in that he’s not someone you’ll see bombing forward too often but he’s good at defending, is a good tackler and will give his all for the cause. I think he’ll be a valuable recruit to the squad.”
Also named in group of 18 are left sided midfielder Callum O'Dowda, a grandson of the tenor Brendan, who has been playing first team football with increasing regularity at Oxford United as well as striker Shamir Goodwin (or Fenelon as he prefers to call himself).
“Callum is coping well with first team football and the more lads who are doing that you can get at this age the better,” says King. “His reaction to the call up has been terrific and we’re delighted to have him. He’s a very technical lad who scores a few goals.
“Shamir was brought to our attention by (former FAI coach) John Morley. “He’s with Brighton but has done well when he’s gone out on loan. He’s a big strong lad and he has ability so again, we’re confident he’ll do well for us.”
Amongst the more familiar names named in the squad are Manchester City pair Ian Lawlor and Jack Byrne, both of whom have been progressing well at the club, and Dylan Connolly who recently joined Ipswich Town from Shelbourne.
After the home game against Andorra, the team will have a break from qualifying until September when they play the return game after which they head into their games against Italy, Lithuania and Slovenia before finishing up with Serbia home and away.
“The Serbs are European Champions at this age group but the hope is that if we can keep our hopes of qualifying alive until those games then we can make a sort of cup tie of the games. It won’t easy, I don’t know of any Italy side that will give you a soft game for a start, but the first thing we have to do is get off to a good start and with all due respect to Andorra the intention is to beat them and use the game to get everybody to know each other a little bit better.”
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U21 SQUAD: Daniel Rogers (Aberdeen), Ian Lawlor (Manchester City), Jack Connors (Dagenham & Redbridge),Callum O'Dowda (Oxford United) Bradley Garmston (West Brom), Niall Keown (Reading), Lee Desmond (St Patrick's Athletic), Sean Kavanagh (Fulham) Thomas Hoban (Watford) Daragh Lenihan (Blackburn Rovers) Glen Rea (Brighton), Alan Browne (Preston North End), Matthew Hamilton (Wigan Athletic), Jack Byrne (Manchester City), Kenneth McEvoy (Tottenham), Dylan Connolly (Ipswich Town FC), Shamir Goodwin (Brighton), Conor Wilkinson (Bolton Wanderers).
