Courtesy: FAI.ie


O’Neill names Futsal squad for Norway Challenge

Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Republic of Ireland Futsal Manager, Derek O'Neill has named a squad of 14 players for the forthcoming International friendly matches against Norway at Dublin's National Basketball Arena on Tuesday 30 and Wednesday 31 March (both KOs 8pm).

The squad contains a number of new faces most notably from the AUL Futsal squad who recently competed for the first time in the FAI Futsal Cup.

Said O'Neill: " The participation of junior teams in this season's FAI Futsal Cup was a very welcome addition to the competition as it offered a number of junior leagues an insight into the sport of Futsal and how it can benefit their organisations. However, it also gave myself and the other National Futsal team coaching staff an opportunity to look at new players and in this regard, the exercise has been a success as we've discovered a number of new players capable of breaking into the National Futsal team. This year is about preparation for 2011 where the qualifiers for both the European Futsal Championships and the FIFA Futsal World Cup take place. We'll be using the upcoming games to determine if certain players who are showing great promise can step up to the mark of international Futsal."

Among those new faces hoping to impress are three newcomers from the AUL Futsal team who performed very well in the FAI Futsal Cup. Alan McCabe, Stephen Murphy and Goalkeeper, Thomas Cullen join the squad for the first time alongside AUL team mate Tony Kane who has already featured for the Irish Futsal side during the last year. The squad also features DDSL starlet, Cian McDonald who plays football for Shelbourne U17s and who is keen to show that he has the ability to adapt to high level Futsal following his debut against France in Toulouse last November.

O'Neill also said: " It's important to remember that although there are some new faces coming into the squad, we have not forgotten a number of excellent players not in this current squad who have performed well for the Irish Futsal side in the past. These coming games give us an opportunity to look at new faces who we hope can step up to the mark and provide healthy competition for places in the squad for what lies ahead in 2011. "

The Republic of Ireland Futsal squad is as follows:

John Somers (Shamrock Rovers Futsal)
Thomas Cullen (AUL Futsal)
Mark Langtry (Sporting Fingal Futsal)
Ross Zambra (Bray/Joeys Futsal)
Ian Byrne (Shamrock Rovers Futsal)
Craig Duggan (Cork Futsal)
Philip McDonagh (Shamrock Rovers Futsal)
Tony Kane (AUL Futsal)
Alan McCabe (AUL Futsal)
Cian McDonald (Dublin Santos Futsal)
Alan Lynch (Shamrock Rovers Futsal)
Stephen Murphy (AUL Futsal)
Jack Doyle (Bray/Joeys Futsal)
Lloyd Massey (Bray/Joeys Futsal)



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com