Irish get their inspiration from Shearer and Lambert

England striker Alan Shearer and Scottish midfielder Paul Lambert are proving to be inspirational role models as the Republic of Ireland under-16s continue their remarkable progress in the UEFA Youth Championship in Scotland.

Newcastle United-based David McMahon, who scored the goal in Thursday night's backs-to-the-wall win over Spain which has put Ireland through to tomorrow's quarter-final with Denmark, and Corkborn Liam Miller, of Celtic, along with goalkeeper Joseph Murphy of Tranmere Rovers, have been the revelations of Brian Kerr's latest success story with an Irish underage team.

McMahon, a 6ft 2in centre-forward in the true tradition, is learning his trade in the shadow of Shearer at Newcastle, while Miller, the hub of the Irish midfield, likens himself to Lambert, a European Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund last year before his transfer to Celtic where Miller has been for the last nine months.

"You learn things from just looking at Alan Shearer in training," said Finglas-bred McMahon, who is 10 months into a 3 1/2-year contract at St James's Park. "It's great for the young players to have a player of his quality at the club. The positions he takes up and his movement both off the ball, and what he does with it when he has it, is an example to all strikers."

McMahon and Miller epitomise the spirit and confidence of this squad who have perhaps already exceeded the expectations of those in the game who thought they were not the best batch of under16s Ireland has produced in recent years.

"Last year's team was regarded as being a collection of very good individual players," said Miller. "This year's squad appears to have produced a better team. We don't have any exceptionally outstanding players but have gelled well into a very solid team.

"We can go a long way now, because we've done so well to get through and you never know what can happen in the knock-out stages."

Miller is expected to be offered a new two-year contract when he returns to Parkhead after this tournament and it will be back to modelling himself on Lambert. "He plays in my position, which is a holding role in midfield, so I tend to look to what he does in games," said Miller. "He is also decent to talk to and will always offer advice, particularly when we have a big youth game coming up."

Dubliner Murphy's reputation has soared to his being regarded as the best goalkeeper in the tournament. "He's been very commanding and the fact that we haven't conceded a goal in the tournament yet is testimony to his ability," said manager Kerr. "He has made crucial saves in every game and I think it will have to be an exceptional goal that beats him."

Kerr allowed his players a deserved day off yesterday in preparation for tomorrow's match against Denmark at Stirling (3.0).

There are no injury concerns. Andrew Reid was taken off after 62 minutes of the rousing win over Spain due to tiredness while Graham Barrett developed cramp and was also substituted late on.

Kerr knows nothing about Denmark as yet, but his meticulous preparation was in full flow yesterday. "I'll speak at length to Scotland manager, Ross Mathie, about them because they've played them twice recently and I've acquired a video of them as well which we'll scan through," said Kerr.

"I've no doubt that come kickoff time, we'll know all we need to know about them."

Ireland (probable): Murphy (Tranmere Rovers); Thompson (Home Farm), O'Shea (Waterford Bohemians), Goodwin (Celtic), Foy (Nottingham Forest); Barrett (Arsenal), S Byrne (West Ham United), Miller (Celtic); McGill (Rivervalley Rangers), McMahon (Newcastle United), Reid (Nottingham Forest).

Tomorrow (3.0): Quarter-finals - Greece v Spain (Paisley); Republic of Ireland v Denmark (Stirling); Italy v Croatia (Motherwell); Israel v Portugal (Inverness).