Ireland U-17 boss Colin O'Brien says LOI academy funding is vital
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Irish Independent
5 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Ex-Liverpool star Jordan Henderson says Keith Andrews influenced Brentford move: ‘As soon as I had that conversation'
Henderson will take the shirt previously worn by club captain Christian Norgaard, who left for Arsenal last week in a deal worth up to £12million. Norgaard's departure has left a significant leadership void that Henderson is expected to fill. But the 35-year-old says that, whilst his experience will be important, he has to prove he can still compete in the Premier League. 'I try my best to pass on my experiences, especially to the younger players. But, at the same time, I still need to perform and do my job on the pitch," Henderson said after signing a two-year deal with Brentford. 'It's a given that I'll help everybody around me but, even at my age, you can still learn a lot, you can still improve, and you can still get better, which is what I want to do at this club.' Henderson, who lifted seven major trophies, all but one of which as club captain, across a 12-year Liverpool career, praised the influence of Brentford head coach Keith Andrews, saying the former Ireland international was a big reason behind him coming to west London. He continued: 'When I spoke to Phil Giles, Lee Dykes and Keith [Andrews], I just had a really good feeling about everything. As soon as I had that conversation, it was clear for me that I wanted to come here, and it was an easy decision in the end. Even at my age, you can still learn a lot, you can still improve, which is what I want to do at this club Jordan Henderson 'When I spoke to Keith a few times, he was very good and very honest, and he's excited to get started as well. He was another big reason why I wanted to come and try to help the club keep moving forward.' In a summer of upheaval, with Brentford losing long-serving head coach Thomas Frank, captain Norgaard, and potentially both star forwards Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, Henderson's arrival should help provide stability. The 84-cap England international has made 431 Premier League appearances, and his sights are set on making Thomas Tuchel's Three Lions squad ahead of next year's World Cup. Henderson becomes Brentford's fourth signing of the summer after the arrivals of Antoni Milambo, Caoimhín Kelleher and Michael Kayode.
RTÉ News
9 hours ago
- RTÉ News
What Euro 2025 has taught Ireland about Belgium ahead of October's Nations League play-off tie
October has been marked down in the calendar for quite some time for the Republic of Ireland. After finishing second in their UEFA Women's Nations League group, the Girls in Green were guaranteed a promotion/relegation play-off against a League A team and out of the hat came Belgium. Since the draw was made, Ireland have played world number one USA twice, losing 4-0 back-to-back in Colorado and Cincinnati late last month. Belgium, meanwhile, were busy featuring at the ongoing Euro 2025 and their group in Switzerland was particularly tricky. A 1-0 loss to Italy got them off on the wrong foot, before their elimination was confirmed following an entertaining and high-scoring defeat to World Cup holders and tournament favourites Spain. However, they finished on a high note with a 2-1 win over Portugal. So with that in mind, what can Ireland take from the Belgians' performances at the European Championships ahead of October's two-legged showdown? "Obviously the first game (against Italy) was disappointing for them and when we were watching it, we were kind of thinking, 'We're not miles off this' and we could even beat them," Shelbourne midfielder and former Ireland international Rachel Graham told this week's . "Against Spain, it's obviously a big task for them and they're not going to set up against us how they set up against Spain. You're just going to do your best to keep Spain out. "And (Belgium) did get two goals against Spain and they're a big threat from setpieces. (Justine) Vanhaevermaet I think is six-foot-one. With the retirement of Louise Quinn, I don't think there's anybody who's going to really challenge her in the air, so that's going to be something that's going to be difficult for us." Graham added that the tournament will also have allowed the Belgians to gel together further and the final group game victory over Portugal showed another facet of the threat they will pose. "It was a much better showing than what they had shown in the first two games," she said of a side spearheaded by Inter Milan striker Tessa Wullaert. "It's probably when I was watching thinking, 'God, we do have a tough game against us now in October'. "They looked good when they were breaking away on the counter-attack. That's where we've looked a bit vulnerable in our recent few games, so definitely an area where we need to tidy up on especially now our back four has chopped and changed a bit and we still don't have an out-and-out right back which could prove to be an issue again in October."
RTÉ News
a day ago
- RTÉ News
Keith Treacy pinpoints pros and cons if Evan Ferguson makes 'sensational' loan move to AS Roma
According to reports, Republic of Ireland striker Evan Ferguson is close to a loan move to Italian giants AS Roma. With uncertainy over his longer-term future at Brighton & Hove Albion, where he's fallen down the pecking order, a switch to a club and city of Roma's scale would be more than intriguing should the transfer eventually get over the line. On this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, ex-Ireland winger Keith Treacy and former Under-21 international Richie Towell discussed some of the transfer news involving Irish players such as Aaron Connolly joining Leyton Orient in League One, and Mark Travers' apparent impending move to Everton. But it's Ferguson and a possible switch to Serie A that is the most eye-catching and Treacy considered the pros and cons that would be involved in moving to the pressure cooker that is the Italian capital's best-supported club who are now managed by former Atalanta head coach Gian Piero Gasperini. "If Evan does end up going on loan to Roma, it would be a sensational move for him. It's a melting pot of pressure over there," he said. "We speak about players going away from England and going away from the limelight. This is not going away from the limelight, this is staring straight into the fire, this one. "The manager, Gasperini, is the sort of manager, if he was managing Belvedere up in Fairview, I'd want to go up and play for him. He's just that type of manager. "He gets you onside. He reminds me a little bit of (Giovanni) Trapattoni, he just has a little bit of an aura about him and you want to run through brick walls for him and looking at what the Atalanta team did for him, he's obviously a very good tactician and an extremely good man-motivator." Treacy pointed out that Gasperini often utilised a 3-4-2-1 formation to good effect at Atalanta, who he led to Europa League final glory last May in Dublin, and if that is the formation, Ferguson would have a challenge to get a start in the lone striker role given the presence of Ukrainian centre-forward Artem Dobyk. "You can't really see Evan playing off the left or playing off the right. He wants to be through the middle," he said. "They've got a Ukrainian boy there, Artem Dobyk, who's a decent player so it's not like Evan goes there and he plays and everything is going to be rosy in the garden. It's going to be really difficult for him to break into that team. "The likes of Pablo Dybala, (Stephan) El Shaarawy, (Lorenzo) Pellegrini the Italian international, there's a really high standard of attacking players there. "Evan's only 20 years of age so if he goes to Roma and doesn't play a lot of games and comes back, it wouldn't be the end of the world. "But he's only played eight Premier League games for West Ham last year, he didn't score any goals and from an Irish point of view I look at him and think we need you fit and firing for this World Cup campaign and these World Cup qualifiers coming pretty soon. That's from a selfish standpoint. "From an individual standpoint for Evan, it would be brilliant for him to go to Rome to get that experience and play under a brilliant manager. But you don't want to go there and play a handful of games and not score goals." But he also pointed out that there could be a challenge adapting to life in other country such as learning new language and integrating into another dressing room. "At 20 years of age, that would have gobbled me up. I wouldn't have survived in a dressing room that doesn't predominatly speak English and has no English, Irish, Scottish or Welsh lads around for me to bounce off," said Treacy. "It would be a learning curve for Evan. I'm not sure how many 20-year-olds could take that sort of stuff in their stride but Evan seems to me like he could do it." Meanwhile, Towell, who also played for Brighton at club level, said the fact that Ferguson is even contemplating a move to such a big club like Roma, with far more pressure than at the Seagulls, speaks highly of his character. "If he does make the move, it probably tells you a little bit about his personality as well," he said. "Listen, everybody knows that footballers have egos but it's different having an ego and having the courage then to go and be like, 'I can go to Roma and be a success'. So it will tell a little bit about him as well."
