JOSH O’DWYER COULD smash the record for youngest ever senior men’s Republic of Ireland international after the Shamrock Rovers academy star was drafted into the squad by manager Heimir Hallgrímsson for next week’s friendly with Canada.
The 42 understands that the 16-year-old midfielder will be on the plane to Montreal this Saturday morning ahead of the game on 5 June (6 June Irish time). Should he make his debut, the Dubliner will be 16 years, two months and 19 days old, comfortably clear of Jimmy Holmes who was 17 years, six months and 19 days old.
O’Dwyer has represented the Boys in Green from U15 to U17 level, and he will also join Red Bull Salzburg from Rovers in July after an undisclosed fee was agreed earlier this year.
An agreement has been reached that will see Academy player Josh O'Dwyer move to Red Bull Salzburg in July.
Josh has been with Rovers Academy from ten years of age.
All at the club wish Josh well and look forward to following his development for club and country.… pic.twitter.com/hspRJHzTrr
An imposing midfielder who can operate in a variety of roles, O’Dwyer has been earmarked by the FAI as a high-potential talent worth fast tracking. He only turned 16 on St Patrick’s Day.
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Rovers will have another midfielder in the Ireland squad this week with Matt Healy also joining teammates Ed McGinty and Adam Brennan, who had already been part of the group that beat Qatar 1-0 on Thursday.
The 42 also understands that St Patrick’s Athletic attacker Kian Leavy is set to be part of the travelling party and could be in line for a senior debut, while Bohemians captain Dawson Devoy will link up as planned after helping the Gypsies to a 3-1 win over Sligo Rovers on Friday.
As had been previously stated, Caoimhín Kelleher, Dara O’Shea, Jayson Molumby and Jack Moylan will not travel to Canada, and Mark Travers will come in along with Conor Coventry.
It means that of the 22-man squad, 17 players either came through a League of Ireland academy or played senior football in the First or Premier Division. Add in former Sligo Rovers striker Owen Elding, now at Hibernian and on board as a training player before his citizenship is formalised, and that number rises further.
Meanwhile, Hallgrímsson was once again asked about the Stop The Game protests that interrupted Thursday’s 1-0 win over Qatar.
The 42 reported on Friday that the FAI’s General Assembly also received the votes required to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) with a non-binding motion to boycott the Nations League games with Israel later this year.
“Does it concern me? From a footballing perspective it’s not fun when this happens, but we respect the protest. Do we do something drastic? I don’t think so. We just have to see how it turns out. Obviously I’ve told you before my stand on it, but I don’t think we should boycott the game, if you are asking that,” Hallgrímsson said.
“I don’t think we should boycott the game, given, number one, it would cost us probably that we would be relegated to League C. Future national teams will suffer. But most of all we are giving them gifts, we are giving them six points, six-zero in goal difference, and they will most likely win the Nations League group if we do that.
“So we are handing them a gift. They have six points and six-zero in goal-difference, it’s tough not to win the group with that. Then they have easier access to come and play in the finals in Ireland.
“We are the football players, we are coaches, this is from a political level and those who are in government should take these decisions. We are part of Uefa and Fifa, so we need to go by their rules that they set.
“That is our job. We are not better if we break the rules ourselves. Ireland is a part of the EU, so we need to go by the rules that are set. We are a part of Uefa and Fifa, and we need to obey the rules there. If somebody takes another decision from above, then…”
It was also subsequently reported by the Irish Sun that the FAI were preparing to hold an emergency board meeting on Tuesday with the sole item on the agenda to discuss the prospect of playing the 4 October game due to take place in Dublin on netral territory instead.
Speaking before that news broke, Hallgrímsson gave his thoughts on such a scenario. “Again, if I think from a football perspective, I am here to try to win games. We are representing the nation on the pitch, we are trying to win the game. Not playing in the Aviva would, of course, be difficult for us because we have been really good here, we have had such fantastic support here. We would always minimise our chances of winning it if we played in a neutral venue or somewhere else.”
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16-year-old Josh O'Dwyer to join senior Ireland squad alongside Kian Leavy of St Pat's
JOSH O’DWYER COULD smash the record for youngest ever senior men’s Republic of Ireland international after the Shamrock Rovers academy star was drafted into the squad by manager Heimir Hallgrímsson for next week’s friendly with Canada.
The 42 understands that the 16-year-old midfielder will be on the plane to Montreal this Saturday morning ahead of the game on 5 June (6 June Irish time). Should he make his debut, the Dubliner will be 16 years, two months and 19 days old, comfortably clear of Jimmy Holmes who was 17 years, six months and 19 days old.
O’Dwyer has represented the Boys in Green from U15 to U17 level, and he will also join Red Bull Salzburg from Rovers in July after an undisclosed fee was agreed earlier this year.
An imposing midfielder who can operate in a variety of roles, O’Dwyer has been earmarked by the FAI as a high-potential talent worth fast tracking. He only turned 16 on St Patrick’s Day.
Rovers will have another midfielder in the Ireland squad this week with Matt Healy also joining teammates Ed McGinty and Adam Brennan, who had already been part of the group that beat Qatar 1-0 on Thursday.
The 42 also understands that St Patrick’s Athletic attacker Kian Leavy is set to be part of the travelling party and could be in line for a senior debut, while Bohemians captain Dawson Devoy will link up as planned after helping the Gypsies to a 3-1 win over Sligo Rovers on Friday.
As had been previously stated, Caoimhín Kelleher, Dara O’Shea, Jayson Molumby and Jack Moylan will not travel to Canada, and Mark Travers will come in along with Conor Coventry.
It means that of the 22-man squad, 17 players either came through a League of Ireland academy or played senior football in the First or Premier Division. Add in former Sligo Rovers striker Owen Elding, now at Hibernian and on board as a training player before his citizenship is formalised, and that number rises further.
Meanwhile, Hallgrímsson was once again asked about the Stop The Game protests that interrupted Thursday’s 1-0 win over Qatar.
The 42 reported on Friday that the FAI’s General Assembly also received the votes required to call an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) with a non-binding motion to boycott the Nations League games with Israel later this year.
“Does it concern me? From a footballing perspective it’s not fun when this happens, but we respect the protest. Do we do something drastic? I don’t think so. We just have to see how it turns out. Obviously I’ve told you before my stand on it, but I don’t think we should boycott the game, if you are asking that,” Hallgrímsson said.
“I don’t think we should boycott the game, given, number one, it would cost us probably that we would be relegated to League C. Future national teams will suffer. But most of all we are giving them gifts, we are giving them six points, six-zero in goal difference, and they will most likely win the Nations League group if we do that.
“So we are handing them a gift. They have six points and six-zero in goal-difference, it’s tough not to win the group with that. Then they have easier access to come and play in the finals in Ireland.
“We are the football players, we are coaches, this is from a political level and those who are in government should take these decisions. We are part of Uefa and Fifa, so we need to go by their rules that they set.
“That is our job. We are not better if we break the rules ourselves. Ireland is a part of the EU, so we need to go by the rules that are set. We are a part of Uefa and Fifa, and we need to obey the rules there. If somebody takes another decision from above, then…”
It was also subsequently reported by the Irish Sun that the FAI were preparing to hold an emergency board meeting on Tuesday with the sole item on the agenda to discuss the prospect of playing the 4 October game due to take place in Dublin on netral territory instead.
Speaking before that news broke, Hallgrímsson gave his thoughts on such a scenario. “Again, if I think from a football perspective, I am here to try to win games. We are representing the nation on the pitch, we are trying to win the game. Not playing in the Aviva would, of course, be difficult for us because we have been really good here, we have had such fantastic support here. We would always minimise our chances of winning it if we played in a neutral venue or somewhere else.”
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