SOCCER:PAUL DOOLIN was yesterday confirmed as the manager of the Ireland Under-18 and under-19 sides. The Dubliner succeeds Seán McCaffrey, who leaves the position after almost seven years in charge.

Doolin comes with an impressive record in club management here having, in particular, enjoyed considerable success during his time at Drogheda United. Since leaving Cork City at the end of last year, he has been in charge of the Ireland under-23s, a team made up of the best young players from the League of Ireland.

He will still take that team to Estonia next week but will then switch his attention to the under-19s and the start of their campaign to qualify for the next European Championship, which kicks off with mini qualifying tournament games against Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Serbia early next month. His first involvement with the players at the under-18 level will be in May when they take part in an invitation tournament, the Slovakia Cup.

“I’m delighted,” said Doolin as his appointment was confirmed yesterday. “It’s a great opportunity to be involved in international football. The job is about the development of players but it’s also about qualifying for things and hopefully winning things too. They (the FAI) haven’t said too much to me yet about what they are looking for from me but they obviously want the teams to be successful, like any club or association.”

Doolin says he has enjoyed his brief spell with the under-23s, which may continue into the new year if the team wins on Tuesday and qualifies for the semi-finals of the International Challenge Trophy. He insists, however, his appetite for working outside the day-to-day world of league football has its origins in his involvement in European club competitions.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time with the under-23s and I couldn’t have asked for anything more in terms of the support I’ve had but if you go back further than that I had 16 years consecutively as a player in Europe and that was always great, the years with Drogheda too; it was something different in terms of the preparation which I always tried to get right, even if we didn’t always get the result we’d been hoping for.

“I’m looking forward to this now,” he concluded. “I’ll be meeting up with the backroom staff before I head away on Sunday and getting a few DVDs but I’ve looked at the panel of players and there are some good players there. I’m thrilled about getting the opportunity to work with them.”