Ireland Boys Under-15s will head to Austria and Italy this week to take part in the annual Torneo Delle Nazioni.

It will be the third time Ireland have competed in the competition with the young Boys in Green winning the tournament in 2023 thanks to a Michael Noonan winner in a 2-1 victory over Italy.

Head Coach Jason Donohue has named a squad of 20 for the tournament with 19 players coming from the EA SPORTS LOI Academy.

Ireland face Czechia on Saturday before facing joint hosts Austria the following day. Their progress in the group will determine their next opponents with a semi-final spot at stake.  

Speaking ahead of the tournament, Donohue said: “We’ve played in this competition for the last three years and in our first year the 2008-born group won the cup against Italy. That same group is going to the Under-17s World Cup, so it’s vital that our players get exposure to tournament football as part of their development.

“It will be a tough tournament, we start against Czechia then a day later we play Austria, so two games in two days. What it does do is give us an extra day of training and we can work on some of the learnings we took from the recent draw against Northern Ireland and the win over Hungary – which were two very good performances.

“This will be our last activity as a group for the year. We’ve capped 33 players, last year it was 38 and the year before that it was 37 - so that’s more than 100 players in three years. Players develop differently, some start off strong then are caught up by those later in the international season so it’s imperative we keep our ID system good and give players opportunities.” 

All games will be streamed via www.facebook.com/gradiscacalciogiovanile
 

Ireland Boys Under-15s

Goalkeepers: Alex Byrne (Shamrock Rovers), Charlie McGarvey (Sligo Rovers).

Defenders: Maxim Afonin (Shamrock Rovers), Rian Ennis ( Shamrock Rovers), Jayden Marshall (Shamrock Rovers), Kimson Kibaga (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Ben Nicholls (Bohemians), Charlie Nolan (Shamrock Rovers).

Midfielders: Aydin Aliyev (SpVgg Greuther Furth), Johnny Collins (Shamrock Rovers), Ciaran Daly (Shamrock Rovers), Blake Devereux Lynch (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Josh O’Dwyer (Shamrock Rovers), Adrian Rascau (Bohemians), Bobby Zeller (Shamrock Rovers).

Forwards: Jonathan Echefu (Galway United), Corey Fay (Shamrock Rovers), ) Ethan Kelly (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Daniel O’Halloran (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Archie Quinn (Shamrock Rovers).

Torneo Delle Nazioni Fixtures

Saturday, April 26 | Ireland v Czechia, Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria, KO 16:00
Sunday, April 27 | Austria v Ireland, Hermagor, Austria, KO 16:00
Tuesday, April 29 | Ireland v TBC
Thursday, May 1 | Ireland v TBC