McCarthy gives youth a fling

Republic Of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy has offered young strikers Michael Reddy and Richard Sadlier the opportunity to train with his senior squad in the build-up to next week's friendly international against Finland.

While Reddy has been a regular on the bench for Premiership side Sunderland this season and continues to be rated as a strong prospect, Sadlier has already made a considerable impact on the first team at Millwall in Division Two of the English League, and recently attracted renewed attention from other clubs by scoring four goals in two games.

"This is a good opportunity for me to have a look at the lads, and for them to come along and train with us," said McCarthy yesterday. The manager has not ruled out calling on a number of other young players before members of the squad get together in Dublin on Sunday evening.

The draws were made yesterday for the 2002 European Championships at under-16 and youth levels.

In the under-16 competition, which takes place every two years, Ireland have been drawn in a group with Slovenia, Yugoslavia and Cyprus, with the mini-qualification tournament to be played by March 2002.

At youth level, Ireland will play Austria, Croatia and Latvia by November 2001 for a place in the following summer's finals tournament.

Venues for the round-robin tournaments are to be agreed between the various associations.

The second under-15 friendly between the Republic and the Netherlands will now take place at Sundrive Park in Crumlin, Dublin, today at 1.0 p.m.