Republic of Ireland Schools to face Northern Ireland

The U18 FAI Schools (Boys) will face their counterparts Northern Ireland in their penultimate match of the Carnegie Centenary Shield on Friday, 20 March, 2009 in Riada Stadium, Ballymoney (KO 7pm):

Manager, Hugh Colhoun has been forced to make a number of changes to his original squad which saw them draw 1-1 away to Scotland last Friday and win 3-1 against Wales in late February:  

Meath’s Jason Dwane will miss this crunch game as he travels to Portsmouth for trials:

Andrew Boyle has club commitments with UCD in Division One of the League of Ireland as they take on Monaghan United at home on Friday evening:

Danny Fallon, Sancta Maria College, Louisburgh and Cillian Morrison of St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny have been recalled as suitable replacements and both players will relish the opportunity to be part of this team as they go in search of a valuable three points:

Colhoun is also without the experienced Gerard Hanley as he has club commitments with Galway United, who travel to Bray on Friday evening in the Premier Division clash:  

Brian Gaffney, St: Joseph’s College, Galway withdrew due to injury: He will be replaced by Brian Nolan of St: Paul’s Community College in Waterford: Brian is no stranger to International football having been previously capped with Ireland as they claimed victory over the Welsh:

Northern Ireland have only played one competitive fixture in the Carnegie Centenary Shield which saw them come from a goal behind to secure an impressive 2/1 victory over the Scots and more importantly a precious three points in the competition:

Northern Ireland have a number of influential players in their side namely, Liam Boyce who scored the opening goal against Scotland and was named Man of the Match in that game, the second goal scorer was Conor Deane, an impressive footballer who will put the Irish defence to the test:

The other Northern stars include Ryan Burns, Stephen Dooley, James Peden and Jimmy Callacher:

The Republic of Ireland are well aware of the strength their counterparts pose: The Republic travelled to Jersey in early February for an invitational friendly which saw them loss to Northern Ireland 2/1: Colhoun put out a very experimental team that day and will be more tactical with his approach on Friday:

This is a must win game for Colhoun: He will beapprehensive heading into this penultimate game as both Northern Ireland and England are well positioned with three points each and a game in hand:

England had a great 3/0 win to Wales and will be hoping to maintain their winning ways:

Northern Ireland’s next outings are away to England on 27 March and away to Wales on 20 April:

The final game of the series for Ireland will see them host England at the RSC, Waterford on 24 April which will be live on Sky Sports, KO 7:35pm:

END