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Republic of Ireland Men's SNT was announced yesterday for the games against Serbia, Luxembourg and Qatar later this month.
It's crucial that we get off to a strong start to the campaign against Serbia who have the renowned Mitrovic, Tadic and Jovic in their ranks. Portugal are the likely favourites to top the group so it's important we aim to at least finish second in the group ahead of the Serbians. Luxembourg should be an easy task to overcome on our road to Qatar and gives us an opportunity to play some of the younger players. Along with the Luxembourg match, the Qatar test allows Stephen Kenny to give players some match experience as it's a friendly.
The 29-man squad is full of familiar faces to the setup except for one young man by the name of Gavin Bazunu. Goalkeeper doubts have been discussed in the media in recent weeks revolving around the injured Randolph which prompted the call up for the young Rochdale keeper. Although Rochdale are sitting second last in the League 1 table, Bazunu has clearly impressed Stephen Kenny. We, Pitchside Guide would love to see Caoimhin Kelleher to start, however, fitness concerns could be a potential issue which could see Bournemouth man, Mark Travers start instead. Although Kelleher trains with the world's best at Liverpool, his lack of recent games is our only concern. A loan next season could really benefit his performances and in our eyes could allow some competition for a future starting spot alongside Randolph to occur.
In other areas of the pitch, Jason Knight can hopefully bring some attacking flair to the side as he does regularly for Derby County. Fans have expressed disappointment for the absence of Aiden McGeady after his positive recent run of games with Sunderland. In our opinion, this was a fair decision by Kenny as we feel McGeady would no longer have the legs for international football as he gets older. James McClean was in doubt, however, he seems to be okay to do the job along with fellow veterans, Robbie Brady, Shane Duffy, Seamus Coleman, Shane Long and Jeff Hendrick.
We're looking forward to seeing the likes of Dara O'Shea, Troy Parrott and Aaron Connolly in action over the qualifiers. Parrott's goal scoring tally kicked off for Ipswich last week so carrying on that good form in the green jersey will really boost the youngster's confidence. Connolly hasn't been starting for Brighton of recent but his style of play does make our attacking play better to watch so starting him is a potential option. Shane Duffy has put in some controversial performances for Celtic so as mentioned in the recent player review, we believe Dara O'Shea could possibly help improve his defensive play for Ireland along with his own.
We, pitchside Guide are nervous but excited for the upcoming games and we wish Stephen Kenny and his team good luck! If there are any suggestions for future content, feel free to email us at pitchsideguide@gmail.com or dm us on our social media pages.
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