Matt Keane reports
The Republic of Ireland Under 17 manager Tom Mohan named two Waterford born players in his squad ahead of two games against Switzerland on March 1st and March 3rd.Mohan, a former Derry City and Finn Harps player announced his 18 man squad( two more to be added this week) at a press conference at the RSC on Friday last.
Lee O’Connor (Villa) and Jayson Molumby (Brighton) are the players who will feature in the matches. The Irish boss was loud in his praise of the two local players. “Lee O’Connor is a fine prospect and has a great future ahead of him. It’s testament to the Villa club and indeed the Waterford Schoolboy League that he is playing at his level, one year ahead of his age. He has done extremely well with us and he will play a vital role during the coming months and it’s great that he will get the opportunity to play now in his own home town”.
“Jayson Molumby is another player who has come through the Waterford Schoolboy structure and he is doing well at Brighton so much so that he has broken into their U21 team. I saw him playing against Arsenal last week in an Under 21 match and he was superb. He was brilliant for us during September in the UFFA qualifying games and he scored the winning goal against Finland (Ireland won 1-0) so he will also be a vital player for us in the elite qualifying games” said Mohan.
During September Ireland also defeated Malta and drew with Sweden, scoring eight goals and conceding just one. They have now been drawn in Group 5 along with the host nation Poland, Serbia and Montenegro in the Elite stage of the Under 17 UEFA competition. Tom Mohan says Switzerland will be tough opponents. “They finished their group joint top with Holland and it’s a country that always produces top class young players. You just have to see how good their senior team is doing in recent times. The team that we will be playing here in Waterford has extremely quick strikers and will prove a big test for our back four. We need tough opponents like Switzerland and the Waterford public will see two very good teams in action”.
