Mohan names U17 squad for UEFA Elite Phase

REPUBLIC of Ireland U17 Head Coach Tom Mohan has named his squad for the forthcoming UEFA U17 Championships Elite round Group 7 tournament in Poland later this month.

22nd Mar 2016

Ireland head to Poland this weekend looking to secure their place in the UEFA Finals for the second year in succession. The tournament will be held in Azerbaijan this year.

In the elite round, the group winners and seven runners-up with the best record against the teams that finish first and third in their section advance to the finals to join the hosts.

"The Elite Phase is always highly competitive and this year will be no different," said Mohan.

"We seem to get Serbia almost every year and they proved by winning the U20 World Cup last year how good they are at producing players. They're a big strong powerful side and we know what to expect and have to be well prepared for our first game in the group.

"Montenegro are a very well organised side too and came out of a tough group to get here. We played Poland last year and we know their quality. It'll be interesting and we're facing quality opponents in each game.

"I've been well impressed with how our players have performed this season. We came out of a tough qualifying round in Sweden where we just conceded one goal and topped our group.

"Players like Anthony Scully, Aaron O'Driscoll and Thomas O'Connor have returned from injuries that hampered them earlier in the campaign while unfortunately we lost James Finnerty and Joe Keaveny through injuries in recent times.

" We've put in a lot of work this year through looking at games, hosting home-based games, holding a training camp for UK-based players and looking to identify players for this level.

"There are good young players coming through in this country and a lot of work is being done to develop them. We will continue to produce to good players."

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U17 SQUAD:

Mark Travers (Unattached)

Paul Martin (St Patrick's Athletic)

Anthony Scully (West Ham United)

Aaron O'Driscoll (Man City)

Jayson Molumby (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Thomas Byrne (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Thomas O'Connor (Southampton)

Rian O'Sullivan (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Dara O'Shea (West Bromwich Albion)

Daniel McKenna (Wolves)

Tyreke Wilson (Man City)