Cautious optimism for Irish youth

EVEN AS the Republic of Ireland squad celebrated their third placing in the world under-20 championship with a parade in Dublin yesterday, a new climate of expectancy was already in evidence in Irish football.

On the premise that many of the more successful senior international squads were based on a solid record of achievement in underage competition, the consensus is that the results in Malaysia over the last three weeks have given cause for fresh hope in the challenge of rebuilding the senior team.

In seven games against the best of their age group in the world, Brian Kerr's teams were never less than fully competitive and in losing to Argentina, the eventual champions, in the semi-final, did enough to suggest that in different circumstances, they might well have won the championship.

Based on those performances, there is, indeed, real cause for optimism but Kerr, who now hands over this squad to the under-21 manager, Ian Evans, cautions that it must be tempered with realism.

"Like everybody else, I want to believe that out of this squad will come some great material for the senior team, but I think it is wise to keep a sense of perspective," he said.

"I don't know for certain if there will be a follow through, for a lot of countries do well at schools' and youth level without necessarily getting improved results in senior competition. In that sense, you can't take too much out of this tournament, other than the achievement itself.

"Many young players have emerged in our senior team over the last year and in that sense, are going to hold up the progress of other youngsters. Unlike club football where you can sell people on, players tend to be around longer in international teams.

"That said, however, some of this squad look to have the quality to go on. There was, overall, a great tactical awareness in the team and after the first two games, they grew up quickly in learning to cope with the different rhythm and agility of African, South American and Asian teams.

"It's been a crash course in the priorities of football at international level and they handled it extremely well."

Kerr has good reason to be cautious about the hazards of straddling the divide between underage and senior football. Some 12 years ago, be was part of Liam Tuohy's management team on the only other occasion Ireland got to the finals of the under-20 competition.

In players like Brian Mooney, Martin Russell and Martin Bayly, Tuohy had some exceptional talent in Tbilisi. And yet, none of them progressed to senior international honours.

That was, in part, a product of unfortunate timing for Jack Charlton was then embarked on an extensive rebuilding programme in which the emphasis was on players with proven first-team records in English football,

Coincidentally, Mick McCarthy is also well down the road in the job of replacing many of the stalwarts of other years and putting his own stamp on the squad. The majority of the newcomers are young and to that extent, it's going to aggravate the task of those now trying to break through.

Yet, it is inconceivable that players of the quality of Damien Duff will not, in time, surface in Ireland's senior team. At 18, he was the youngest of the Irish players in Malaysia and in just over two weeks, is off to Iceland to play in the European championship for that age group.

There are those who see in this precocious talent a parallel with Liam Brady and that, perhaps, is the highest praise which can be bestowed on him. Like Brady, he plays down the left side of midfield, but on the evidence of recent weeks he may be sufficiently versatile to adapt to alternative roles.

Others with realistic hope of going all the way include Thomas Morgan Robbie Ryan and Derek O'Connor a colourful goalkeeper who entertained and excited the Malaysian football public in equal measure in his six appearances in the side.

Significantly, all but two of the squad, Neale Fenn and Niall Inman are Irish born, a pointer, perhaps to the fact that in the changing priorities of the modern game, the option of recruiting suitably-qualified players born outside the country may be dwindling.

Other pertinent features to emerged from this, the ninth staging of the championship, included contradictory evidence on the implementation of FIFA's new rule governing the length of time a goalkeeper may control the ball.

With the imposition of a six-second limit, hasty, ill-directed clearances did little to improve the overall quality of the football. But the amended rule had, at least, the effect of quickening up play.

In terms of crowd sizes, the championship was disappointing with Saturday's final, watched by 45,000 in the Shah Alam stadium in Kuala Lumpur, the only game to attract spectators in significant numbers.

This has been attributed to expensive pricing of tickets and poor marketing by the sponsors Coca Cola. The consequences are likely to provoke a cabinet debate in Malaysia to review the arrangements in place for the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to be held here next year.