Irish Schools take on league leaders Wales

THE Republic of Ireland Schools squad will travel to Wales later today ahead of their crunch clash with the Welsh Schools outfit in Carmathern Town FC on Thursday night (KO 7pm): 2012

This is a must win game for the Irish as the league leaders play host to Horgan’s men in a pulsating tie that could see a clear winner emerge: The last time these two sides met saw the points shared as a 2-2 result in Killarney was a fair outcome to the game: 

Martin Evan’s Welsh side are enjoying a wonderful season this year which saw them pull off two amazing victories already to take top spot: The Welsh opened their campaign with a solitary goal from Alex Samuel to claim a 1/0 win at home against a much fancied English team: Ten days later the Welsh came from a goal behind to overcome a strong Scottish squad 1/2 away from home to claim a valuable six points on the league table: This has to be one of the most impressive starts for Evan’s side in some time:

The Republic of Ireland also got off to an excellent start with a narrow 1/0 win over their Northern counterparts courtesy of a Paul Moffat goal in the first half: However, the Irish didn’t capitalize on this win as they only managed a 1/1 draw at home to Scotland in their following encounter: Sean Maguire put the Irish in the lead with a superb goal just before the interval: The Scots only needed 80 seconds following the restart to produce an equaliser as Lawrence Shankland scored:

Irish Manager Ollie Horgan (St: Eunan’s College, Letterkenny) will see a number of positional changes to the team that faced Scotland a fortnight ago: Captain Colm Horgan of Colaiste Einde, Salthill will lead the team out in what could be the biggest game in their campaign thus far:

Sean Russell (Colaiste Phadraig, Lucan) andJohn Kavanagh (Oatlands College) were late withdrawals from the panel due to injury: Kavanagh was due to replace the injured Eoin Hyland as the youngster is sidelined for a number of weeks and may even miss out on the England game at the end of the month:

The welcome replacements named for selection are Adam O’Connor (Drimnagh Castle) and Jason Abbott (Colaiste Mhuire, Cobh): The youngsters will be relishing the challenge of an International debut on foreign soil:

Goalkeeper Niall Corbett who is studying in Clonaslee Vocational School in Laois has also been called up to the panel in place of Paul Whyte (Castleisland Community College): Evan Comerford (CBS High School, Clonmel) will be in the mix for the number one jersey as Corbett’s late call up may merit a starting eleven spot for the away tie:

With two games under their belts, the Irish sit second in the group: The Scots share the same amount of points but have an extra game played which may see them out of contention for the prestigious honours this season: The joint holders, Northern Ireland are also out of the title race following three defeats this season which sees them sit bottom of the table: England lies third with three points registered following one win and one defeat:

England and Scotland will fight it out on Thursday night (April 12) also with the game being televised live on Sky Sports from St: James Park, Newcastle: Scotland will be looking to end their season with a much needed win while the English will be looking for their second win in three games:

Northern Ireland is primed to host Wales next week (April 19) in the penultimate game of the Centenary Shield: The North will be looking to pick up their first points of the season while an away win for Wales would bring them closer to their title ambitions: This makes for a thrilling climax to the competition:

The much anticipated clash with Wales will be the Republic’s third game in their campaign and a win for either team would put them in poll position to claim the Shield:

The Irish will finish their season away to England on April 26: The Centenary Shield finale is set to be televised live on Sky Sports with a 7:35pm kick off scheduled in Brighton & Hove FC:

Centenary Shield (U18 Boys)

Wales v Republic of Ireland

Carmarthern Town FC

Thursday, April 12, KO 7pm

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Evan COMERFORD (CBS High School, Clonmel), Adam O’CONNOR (Drimnagh Castle), Anthony O’DONNELL (Carrigaline Community School), Pierce SWEENEY (Colaiste Raithin, Bray), Ryan MATTHEWS (Clonkeen College, Blackrock), Paul MOFFAT (Clonkeen College, Blackrock), Colm HORGAN (Colaiste Einde, Galway), Brian LENIHAN (Presentation Brothers College, Cork), Barry SHEEDY (Colaiste Iosaef, Kilmallock), Sean MAGUIRE (CBS Kilkenny), Daniel MORRISSEY (Midleton CBS), Jason ABBOTT (Colaiste Mhuire, Cobh), Jack DOHERTY (Comeragh College), Rob LEHANE (Douglas Community School), Timmy MOLLOY (Colaiste Iognaid, Galway), Niall CORBETT (Clonaslee Vocational School, Laois), Fearghal McMAHON (St: Macartan’s College, Monaghan), Joe O’BRIEN (Yeat’s College, Galway)

MANAGEMENT: Ollie Horgan, Manager (St: Eunan’s College, Letterkenny), Dave Archbold, Assistant Manager (Palmerstown Community School), Hugh Colhoun, Coach (St: Laurence College, Loughlinstown), Richard Fitzgibbon (GK Coach), Mickey McGlynn (Physiotherapist), Dr: Aidan Colmain (Doctor)

WALES: Luke Martin, James Harmer, Jake Perry, Lee Evans, Joe Thomas, Jack Medwin, Alun Webb, Alex Jones, Alex Samuel, Ryan Jones, Jamie McDaid, Josh Roberts, Ashley Curtis, Gruggydd John, Andre Griffiths, Thomas Atyeo, Jordan Beck, Rhydian Davies, Jack Hughes

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND FIXTURES & RESULTS

27:01:12          FAI Schools (Boys) 2/3 Australia (FR) in Dublin (L)

16:03:12          FAI Schools (Boys) 1/0 Northern Ireland (CS) in Pike Rovers FC, Limerick (W)

30:03:12          FAI Schools (Boys) 1/1 Scotland (CS) in RSC, Waterford (D)

12:04:12          FAI Schools (Boys) v Wales (CS) in Carmarthern

26:04:12          FAI Schools (Boys) v England (CS) in Brighton

OTHER CENTENARY SHIELD FIXTURES

24:02:12 Scotland 4/0 Northern Ireland (Toryglen Arena, Glasgow) KO 7pm

02:03:12 Wales 1/0 England (Haverfordwest County AFC) KO 7pm

15:03:12 Scotland 1/2 Wales (Forfar FC) KO 7pm

23:03:12 Northern Ireland 0/4 England (Linfield FC, Windsor Park, Belfast) KO 7:35pm

12:04:12 England v Scotland (Sports Direct Arena, St: James Park, Newcastle) KO 8:05pm

19:04:12 Northern Ireland v Wales (Stangmore Park, Belfast) KO 7:35pm

Placings are calculated on points only (30:03:12)