(FM'09) Fighting For The Green & White Army - Northern Ireland's New Football Dictator

[neilhoskins77]

It's back! Yep, by popular demand (literally no one), I'm reprising my role in the series as the International Football dictator that has previously seen me take charge in both Kyrgyzstan and Iceland, plus to a lesser degree, India. Clearly, these stories are the best International stories on the Boards for years! (**Fact checking in progress** - flagged as highly likely fake news)

If you missed the previous attempts at this series, it involved me taking control of all age groups of an Nation as well as their Senior team.

This time I have decided to use a nation much closer to home. When choosing one of the home nations or Ireland, there was a process of elimination involved. I'm Welsh, so clearly I didn't want to manage England. It might surprise you to learn that I didn't want to manage my home nation either, too much pressure for me there. I didn't want to alienate the English by taking charge of Scotland and them hoping I fail either!

So we're down to the two nations on the emerald isle. I am pretty happy with either option here. Who doesn't love the Irish (apart from maybe bar owners at 3am when they were supposed to close two hours ago). The Republic actually have a pretty good squad at the start point of this save (Summer 2008), so I have opted to go with the more challenging option.

Not that Northern Ireland are too bad an option now either. With a three tier domestic league, and plenty of players making their living in England and Scotland as well, plus some more a bit further afield too, Then there is the 'added extra' as well. The players with British passports that are eligible for any of the four home nations in theory, and therefore are up for grabs to be added to the National Pool if you're good enough, or fast enough, and can prise them away from any other nations that they may be eligible for. Also, Northern Ireland is a nation I've had some success in before in another active save, though I have to say that it's open to interpretation as to what 'success' would look like here.

There is no editor use involved in this save, apart from cosmetics and unfaking the German and Japanese National Teams. Oh, and one other tiny little detail. I can't be sacked! Well, what did you expect? Dictators do not get sacked......fired maybe, in a very different sense!

I hope you enjoy folks, this is one of my favourite stories to play and write.

[mark wilson27]

Looking forward to this Neil, and yes your International stories are some of the best on here

[neilhoskins77]

Wednesday 9th July 2008
With the meet the media circus all done, I get a chance to do a little housekeeping and see what tournaments are already in progress and where we currently stand in those, what are prospects are, and who the key players are likely to be. There are three teams that I'll be overseeing in this save......

Senior Team
Our Senior side are preparing to start their Qualifying campaign in September for the FIFA 2010 World Cup Finals, which will be held in South Africa. We are the fifth seeds in a six nation section, and it's a very interesting looking Group Three. The only nation ranked lower than us are San Marino, who we will of course be expected to take maximum points from. Ranked higher than us and different proposition are the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Certainly no easy games there, but there are some opportunities to see how we can compete against some nations that have some good players, but wouldn't be considered European heavyweights by any means. If we can finish third or fourth in the Group and punch above our weight, I think it would be considered a good campaign. Qualification would be a long shot, but lets not rule ourselves out before we even get underway. It's a tough start though, with three of the opening four games seeing us face the Czech's at home, as well as Slovakia and Slovenia away.

The current crop of mainstays in the Northern Ireland Senior Squad contain, it would be fair to say I think, no superstars of the game. There is a good core though, and many of the Green and White Army will be excited by the young group of players that are breaking into the Senior ranks. They include centre back Jonny Evans of Manchester United, left winger Chris Brunt of West Bromwich Albion and Rangers midfielder Steve Davis, as well as his Gers team mate and striker Kyle Lafferty to name just a few.

Under-21's
The eldest age group side have been simply superb so far in Group Five of Qualification for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championships Finals. With one Qualifier left to play (most of the other nations have two left), our youngsters are unbeaten and guaranteed a Playoff to try and secure their place in the Finals that will be held in Sweden. No mean feat, especially in a Group that includes both Holland and the Republic of Ireland, our lads drew with the former both home and away and beat the latter in both ties. A win in the final game away to Estonia on the 9th September will cement an unbeaten Group Phase!

| Pos   | Inf   | Team      |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   |

| 1st   | Pl    | N.Ireland |       | 7     | 4     | 3     | 0     | 5     | 1     | +4    | 15    |
| 2nd   |       | Ireland   |       | 7     | 2     | 3     | 2     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 9     |
| 3rd   |       | Holland   |       | 6     | 1     | 5     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 8     |
| 4th   |       | Estonia   |       | 6     | 1     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 7     |
| 5th   |       | Moldova   |       | 6     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 1     | 6     | -5    | 1     |

Under-19's
Our youngest age group are the next generation of Northern Irish football stars, and on September 1st they will find out who their opponents will be for their own set of European Championship Qualifiers when the draw is made and nations plot their path to next summers Finals in France.

When you get to see the Under-19's in action, you can expect to see a mix of youngsters that are in the system at big clubs, out on loan or playing for clubs further down the pyramid in several nations, or players that are already making names for themselves in domestic football in Ulster. I have to say that the prospect of guiding young players through the age levels and into the Senior Squad, and hopefully seeing them thrive both at Club and International level, is one I'm very much looking forward to it through the course of this save.

[neilhoskins77]

Wednesday 16th July 2008
Northern Ireland have remained at their current FIFA World Ranking of 32nd this month. Spain are the top ranked nation right now.

Sunday 31st August

Northern Ireland Senior Squad Announcement
FIFA 2010 World Cup Qualifying, European Zone Group Three
vs Slovakia on Saturday 6/9/2008 in Bratislava & vs Czech Republic on Wednesday 10/9/2008 in Belfast

|         Name          |    Position    |       Club          | Height  | Age | Value |  International Status  |

|      Alan Mannus      |      GK        |     Linfield        |  5'11"  |  26 | £100K |  3 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|   Michael McGovern    |      GK        |   Dundee Utd (SCO)  |  6'2"   |  24 |  £30K |10 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals|
|     Roy Carroll       |      GK        |  Derby County (ENG) |  6'2"   |  30 | £700K | 19 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|     Aaron Hughes      |     D RC       |     Fulham (ENG)    |  6'0"   |  28 | £3.4M | 59 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|     Chris Baird       |     D RC       |     Fulham (ENG)    |  6'1"   |  26 | £2.1M | 32 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|    Gareth McAuley     |     D RC       |  Ipswich Town (ENG) |  6'3"   |  28 | £1.5M | 10 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|    Damien Johnson     |   D R, M RC    |Birmingham City (ENG)|  5'9"   |  29 | £550K | 48 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|     Tony Capaldi      |     D L        |  Cardiff City (ENG) |  6'0"   |  27 | £425K | 22 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|     Jonny Evans       |     D C        | Manchester Utd (ENG)|  6'2"   |  20 | £5.5M | 10 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|      Shane Duff       |     D C        |Cheltenham Town (ENG)|  6'1"   |  26 |  £18K | 1 Under-21 Cap/0 Goals |
|    Stephen Craigan    |     D C        |   Motherwell (SCO)  |  6'1"   |  31 | £190K | 35 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|   George McCartney    |    D/WB L      |   Sunderland (ENG)  |  6'0"   |  27 |  £6M  | 25 Senior Caps/1 Goal  |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|     Sammy Clingan     |  D C, DM, M C  |  Norwich City (ENG) |  5'11"  |  24 | £300K | 15 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|      Jeff Hughes      |   D/WB/AM L    | Bristol Rovers (ENG)|  6'0"   |  23 | £100K |  2 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|     Grant McCann      |     M LC       | Scunthorpe Utd (ENG)|  5'10"  |  28 | £120K | 16 Senior Caps/1 Goal  |
|     Steven Davis      |     M C        |     Rangers (SCO)   |  5'7"   |  23 | £2.2M | 28 Senior Caps/1 Goal  |
|     Ivan Sproule      |     AM R       |  Bristol City (ENG) |  5'8"   |  27 | £650K | 11 Senior Caps/1 Goal  |
|    Wayne Carlisle     |     AM R       | Torquay United (ENG)|  5'9"   |  28 | £18K  | 9 Under-21 Caps/1 Goal |
|     Chris Brunt       |     AM L       |West Brom Albion(ENG)|  6'1"   |  23 | £3.4M | 17 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
|    Daryl Smylie       |     AM C       |   Kalmar FF (SWE)   |  6'0"   |  22 | £110K | 6 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals|
|     Dean Shiels       |    AM/F C      |   Doncaster (ENG)   |  5'11"  |  23 | £400K |  4 Senior Caps/0 Goals |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    Kyle Lafferty      |   AM L, ST     |    Rangers (SCO)    |  6'4"   |  20 | £1.9M | 16 Senior Caps/5 Goals |
|     David Healy       |      ST        |   Sunderland (ENG)  |  5'7"   |  29 | £1.5M |64 Senior Caps/34 Goals |
|     Lee Hughes        |      ST        |    Barnsley (ENG)   |  6'0"   |  32 | £30K  |      Uncapped          |
|    Lee McEvilly       |      ST        |    Rochdale (ENG)   |  6'0"   |  26 | £35K  |  1 Senior Cap/0 Goals  |
|    Warren Feeney      |      ST        |   Dundee Utd (SCO)  |  5'9"   |  27 | £1.3M | 24 Senior Caps/3 Goals |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's certainly not wholesale changes, but there are some little tweaks here and there as I name my first Northern Ireland Senior Squad ahead of the trip to Slovakia, and the return home to face the Czech Republic. Where there were close choices, I generally went for the more experienced player, as we aim for a good start to our Qualifying campaign, and also to allow younger players the chance to impress playing amongst their peers and against like for like quality hopefully, as well as age.

It was entirely expected that our Squad generally plays their football outside of Ulster, though current Premier Division Champions of the nation, Linfield, are represented by goalkeeper Alan Mannus. There are four players included who have never represented Northern Ireland before at some level, and could win debut Senior Caps. Two of those, Shane Duff and Wayne Carlisle, have been plucked from the lower reaches of English football due to a lack of depth in certain areas, and it would be fair to say the right wing spot is immediately flagged as an area of weakness. The inclusion of Swedish based attacking midfielder Daryl Smylie who plays his football in the top tier there is a very interesting one, and the former Newcastle United youngster is an interesting pick. As is the inclusion of Lee Hughes, the 32 year old striker is prolific in the Football League, and the chance to add him to our National Pool is irresistible, especially when you see the lack of goals throughout the selection, with the obvious exception of David Healy, the nations all-time leading goalscorer, and man who has saved his country on a football park more times than fans would care to remember.

Northern Ireland Under-21 Squad Announcement
Under-21 Friendly International & UEFA 2009 European Under-21 Championship Qualifying Group Five
vs Slovakia on Friday 5/9/2008 in Trnava & vs Estonia on Tuesday 9/9/2008 in Tallinn

|         Name          |   Position   |         Club          | Height  | Age | Value |   International Status   |

|     Chris Keenan      |      GK      |       Crusaders       |  6'2"   | 21  | £5K   |         Uncapped         |
|    Jonathan Tuffey    |      GK      | Partick Thistle (SCO) |  6'1"   | 21  | £10K  | 13 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|     Trevor Carson     |      GK      |  Chesterfield (ENG)   |  6'0"   | 20  | £250K |  6 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    Chris Casement     |     D RC     |   Ipswich Town (ENG)  |  6'0"   | 20  | £500K |  9 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|     Cian Hughton      |     D L      |  Grays Athletic (ENG) |  5'10"  | 19  | £250K |         Uncapped         |
|      Carl Magnay      |     D C      |  Torquay United (ENG) |  6'0"   | 19  | £160K |         Uncapped         |
|    Craig Cathcart     |     D C      | Plymouth Argyle (ENG) |  6'2"   | 19  | £1.2M |  6 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|   David Armstrong     |     D C      |      Hearts (SCO)     |  6'1"   | 21  | £16K  |  1 Under-21 Cap/0 Goals  |
|     Rory McArdle      |     D C      |     Rochdale (ENG)    |  6'2"   | 21  | £22K  | 19 Under-21 Caps/1 Goal  |
|      Ryan Berry       | D/WB R, M RC |        Glentoran      |  5'9"   | 19  | £7K   |         Uncapped         |
|      Ross Black       |   D/WB/AM L  |       Newry City      |  5'7"   | 20  | £2K   |         Uncapped         |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    Matthew Hazley     |     D/M L    | Airdrie United (SCO)  |  5'10"  | 20  | £35K  |  3 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|    Robbie Garrett     |    DM, M C   |        Linfield       |  5'6"   | 20  | £14K  | 10 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|   Michael O'Connor    |    DM, AM C  | Crewe Alexandra (ENG) |  6'1"   | 20  | £40K  |   1 Senior Cap/0 Goals   |
|    David Howland      |     M RC     |    Port Vale (ENG)    |  5'11"  | 21  | £22K  |  4 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|     Niall McGinn      |     AM RL    |     Rochdale (ENG)    |  6'1"   | 21  | £650K |   1 Senior Cap/0 Goals   |
|     Andy Sproule      |  AM RL, F C  |        Portadown      |  6'0"   | 21  | £1K   |         Uncapped         |
|    Daryl Fordyce      |  AM RC, F C  |Hartlepool United (ENG)|  5'11"  | 20  | £16K  | 12 Under-21 Caps/1 Goal  |
|     Alan Teggart      |     AM L     |     Rochdale (ENG)    |  5'10"  | 21  | £8K   |         Uncapped         |
|   Martin Donnelly     |     AM L     |        Crusaders      |  5'8"   | 20  | £3K   |  1 Under-21 Cap/0 Goals  |
|     Chris Turner      |     AM C     | Partick Thistle (SCO) |  5'9"   | 21  | £9K   | 12 Under-21 Caps/2 Goals |
|    Phillip Lowry      |     AM C     |  Notts Forest (ENG)   |  5'7"   | 19  | £8K   |         Uncapped         |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|      Andy Little      |   D C, ST    |      Rangers (SCO)    |  6'2"   | 19  | £6K   |         Uncapped         |
|    Thomas Stewart     |     F C      |    Derry City (IRE)   |  5'11"  | 21  | £65K  | 19 Under-21 Caps/3 Goals |
|    Mark McAllister    |     ST       |        Linfield       |  6'5"   | 20  | £18K  |  3 Under-21 Caps/0 Goals |
|    Martin Paterson    |     ST       |      Burnley (ENG)    |  5'9"   | 21  | £1M   |   3 Senior Caps/0 Goals  |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As mentioned in the previous post, our oldest age group side have been simply superb in European Under-21 Championship Qualifying, and remain unbeaten in Group Five with just one game to play despite having Holland and the Republic of Ireland in their pool. They go into next weeks game in Estonia guaranteed a Playoff Spot, but the Squad has been changed noticeably from my predecessors last selection.

My selection includes eight players who have never represented Northern Ireland at any level, four of them currently playing their football still in Ulster, making eight in total in this selection who are playing domestic club football. The rest are made up almost entirely of players currently in England and Scotland, and the spectrum between some is quite large, with a few unlucky to miss out on Senior Squad selection, and some selected due to a lack of other options to be truthful. A lot of those selected that play in England are currently seeing action well down the Football League ladder, one even outside the League itself.

Craig Cathcart is on loan in the West Country from Manchester United, and is probably one of our best players at this level, and in a similar situation is winger Niall McGinn, who is out on loan from Scottish giants Celtic. From across Glasgow, there is a first chance to play International Football for Rangers utility teenager Andy Little, as there also is for talented Nottingham Forest playmaker Phillip Lowry. In wide trio Ryan Berry, Ross Black and Martin Donnelly, I've selected possibly three of the most talented young footballers still operating in the domestic Leagues.

Northern Ireland Under-19 Squad Announcement
Under-19 Friendly Internationals
vs Slovakia on Thursday 4/9/2008 in Trnava & vs Czech Republic on Monday 8/9/2008 in Larne

|           Name            | Position |          Club           | Height | Age | Value | International Status |

|       Andrew Dickey       |    GK    | Colchester United (ENG) |  6'0"  | 16  | £55K  |      Uncapped        |
|       Conor Devlin        |    GK    | Manchester United (ENG) |  6'0"  | 16  | £180K |      Uncapped        |
|      Jonathan Lavery      |    GK    |    Ross County (SCO)    | 5'11"  | 16  | £45K  |      Uncapped        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|        Lee Hodson         |    D R   |      Watford (ENG)      | 5'11"  | 16  | £675K |      Uncapped        |
|       Michael McKerr      |D RC ,WB R|  Birmingham City (ENG)  |  6'0"  | 18  | £475K |  Capped at Under-19  |
|       Ryan McGivern       |   D LC   |  Manchester City (ENG)  |  6'4"  | 18  | £85K  |      Uncapped        |
|       Johnny Flynn        |    D C   |  Blackburn Rovers (ENG) |  6'1"  | 18  | £800K |  Capped at Under-19  |
|       Sean McCashin       |    D C   | Nottingham Forest (ENG) |  5'5"  | 17  | £675K |  Capped at Under-19  |
|        Shane Duffy        |    D C   |      Everton (ENG)      |  6'2"  | 16  | £1.1M |      Uncapped        |
|        Corry Evans        |D C,DM,M C| Manchester United (ENG) | 5'11"  | 18  | £500K |  Capped at Under-19  |
|      Daniel Lafferty      |  D/WB L  |       Celtic (SCO)      | 6'0"   | 19  |  £2K  |      Uncapped        |
|       Richard Vauls       |  D/WB L  |     Stoke City (ENG)    | 5'10"  | 17  | £24K  |      Uncapped        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|       Nathan Hanley       | D L, M LC|     Hull City (ENG)     | 5'11"  | 17  |  £7K  |      Uncapped        |
|       Shane Ferguson      |  D/AM L  |  Newcastle United (ENG) | 5'5"   | 17  | £120K |      Uncapped        |
|        Eunan O'Kane       |   M RL   |      Everton (ENG)      | 5'9"   | 18  | £675K |  Capped at Under-19  |
|        Daniel Kearns      |   M C    |  West Ham United (ENG)  | 6'0"   | 17  | £675K |      Uncapped        |
|         Robbie Weir       |   M C    |    Sunderland (ENG)     | 5'9"   | 19  | £95K  |  Capped at Under-19  |
|        Sammy Stewart      |   M C    |      Aberdeen (SCO)     | 5'10"  | 17  | £35K  |  Capped at Under-19  |
|        Brian McCaul       |  AM RC   |  Plymouth Argyle (ENG)  | 5'9"   | 18  | £425K |      Uncapped        |
|        Liam Bagnall       |  AM RC   |    Sunderland (ENG)     | 5'8"   | 16  | £110K |      Uncapped        |
|        Jordan Hughes      | AM L, ST |    Portsmouth (ENG)     | 5'10"  | 17  | £75K  |      Uncapped        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|         Adam McGurk       |  AM/F C  |  Dorchester Town (ENG)  | 5'10"  | 19  | £35K  |      Uncapped        |
|        James Lawrie       |    ST    |     Port Vale (ENG)     | 6'0"   | 17  | £18K  |      Uncapped        |
|      Jonathan Breeze      |    ST    |   Wigan Athletic (ENG)  | 6'4"   | 17  | £35K  |      Uncapped        |
|      Matthew Anderson     |    ST    |        Linfield         | 6'4"   | 16  | £65K  |      Uncapped        |
|         Will Grigg        |    ST    |      Walsall (ENG)      | 5'8"   | 17  | £70K  |      Uncapped        |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the draw for UEFA 2009 European Under-19 Championship Qualifying to be made tomorrow, for this International Window the Under-19 side will mirror the Senior Squad's fixtures and travel together as one enlarged group.

If you were to scroll down the centre of the squad announcement and look at the clubs we have players to select from, it would look fairly rosy for the most part. However there is a chronic lack of experience throughout the selection, and while it's unlikely performances at this level will help players into their current clubs First Team for the most part, it may help some earn loan moves and find some valuable experience of First Team football.

There are some exceptions of course, Sammy Stewart has broken into the picture up at Aberdeen, while as you might expect, Adam McGurk is a first choice at Blue Square South outfit Dorchester Town, where he is already on loan from Aston Villa. The only domestic player included is 16 year old Linfield striker Matthew Anderson. The 6'4 teenager made quite an impression on his Senior Debut, coming off the bench to head home a goal for the second string Swifts side in an Antrim Trophy tie against Ballycastle.

As previously mentioned, this is a part of this process that I'm very much looking forward to, as we hope to see some of these players progress through their Club and International careers alike, and hopefully represent Northern Ireland in the future at Senior Level. And that draw tomorrow will be interesting as well!

[neilhoskins77]

Sunday 31st August 2008
Reaction to my announcement of a first Senior Squad for Northern Ireland under my reign was largely positive, with the fans happy to see some new blood being brought into the mix on the whole. The exception there was Wayne Carlisle, with the media believing that the Torquay United winger doesn't have the quality necessary to play International football. Personally, I suspect they are reacting more to his current level of club football down in the Blue Square Premier. We are not blessed with an embarrassment for riches in many positions, and Wayne has had a superb start to the 2008/09 season at Plainmoor.

Monday 1st September
The draw has today been made for the First Qualifying Round of the UEFA 2009 European Under-19 Championships. We are placed in Group Nine, and will face Azerbaijan, Holland and Romania. That's a very interesting looking section, and will be held over a five day period next month, with Azerbaijan selected to host the games, which will all be held at their huge Tofik Bahramov Republican Stadium in the capital city of Baku. We will face Romania first, then the hosts two days later, before finishing off against the Dutch another two days later on. The top two will qualify automatically, with some berths available for third placed nations as well. We could have got a kinder draw, but it could have been worse as well.

Tuesday 2nd September
Injury issues strike the Under-21 Squad ahead of their Friendly in Slovakia, and Qualifier in Estonia. Winger Niall McGinn, who is currently on loan at Rochdale from Celtic, has suffered a bruised thigh today in training, but the medical team have cleared him to remain with the Squad and potentially be available for the more important game in Tallinn. However there is worse news for Crewe Alexandra midfielder Michael O'Connor, who is out for both games after pulling a hamstring. With all Squads selected, and those missing out for the Under-21's largely included in the Under-19's instead where they were available, my options are limited selecting a replacement. Called up is 18 year old once capped at Under-21 level, Adam Chapman. He is currently employed at Sheffield United, but is enjoying his first taste of Senior football out on loan at Oxford United of the Blue Square Premier.

Wednesday 3rd September
The Under-21's take another knock to their depth today with Derry City striker Thomas Stewart suffering a bruised rib today. Like McGinn, the medical team believe he can still take part in the second game at least if needed, and he will also remain with the Squad.

Our Under-19's will kick off this International Window tomorrow with a Friendly in Trnava against Slovakia. The hosts have gone with a largely domestic based Squad for this one, with three notable exceptions. Two of those are English based players, goalkeeper Andrej Pernecky of Southampton, and exciting young striker Robert Mak of Manchester City. The final player of the trio is their star man, 17 year old forward Andrej Rendla who despite his tender years is already on the fringes of the First Team in his second year in Holland with FC Twente.

Thursday 4th September

Under-19 International Friendly
Stadion Antona Malatinskeho, Trnava, Slovakia
Slovakia Under-19's v Northern Ireland Under-19's
Starting Lineup :- Conor Devlin (Manchester United); Michael McKerr (Birmingham City), Corry Evans (Manchester United), Johnny Flynn (Blackburn Rovers), Richard Vauls (Stoke City); Liam Bagnall (Sunderland), Robbie Weir © (Sunderland), Sammy Stewart (Aberdeen), Jordan Hughes (Portsmouth); Will Grigg (Walsall), James Lawrie (Port Vale).
Substitutes :- Daniel Lafferty (Celtic), Jonathan Lavery (Ross County), Shane Duffy (Everton), Daniel Kearns (West Ham United), Eunan O'Kane (Everton), Adam McGurk (Dorchester Town), Matthew Anderson (Linfield).

While I was of course keen to see what I had to work with in my first game in charge at this level, my Slovakian counter part was more inclined to use this game to experiment, and left most of his big hitters amongst the substitutes bench for this one. As a result, we enjoyed some great attacking possession in the first half. James Lawrie sent a curling shot over the bar, and then forced a point blank save from keeper Atilla Petrik when he connected with a cross from Liam Bagnall. Speaking of Bagnall, he would play a starring role shortly after Jozef Lukac just missed the target with a free kick for the hosts. After a series of corners, Petrik came off his line to try and punch one clear, he was beaten to be ball by midfielder Lubos Chmelik who's header didn't go very far at all, and the Sunderland forward Bagnall looped his header back over the crowd including the now stranded keeper, and into the far corner to put us ahead.

Unfortunately, our early dominance of proceedings was over for now, and Slovakia went on the front foot. Robert Mak's shot on the turn was well wide, and Martin Boszorad forced a tip over from Conor Devlin before the break. Bagnall had a penalty appeal rejected in injury time as we entered the break a goal to the good, and the Slovakians started to make changes.

A pair of changes from the hosts didn't have the effect they were hoping for, in fact it was my own half time sub that nearly altered the scoreline, Bagnall doing well down the right and sending a cross to the far post where Everton winger Eunan O'Kane wanted too much time and never made the decision between shooting and cutting the ball back across goal. When Slovakia reacted with more changes, including their star striker Andrej Rendla, the impact was swift. Blackburn defender Johnny Flynn never dealt with the Dutch based strikers movement, and he effortlessly moved off the defenders shoulder to get on the end of another sub Lukas Gressak's chip forward, and buried a shot past Devlin five minutes after being introduced. Unfortunately for Flynn, he would make a further crucial error just over five minutes later, this time losing Gressak himself as Peter Sulek's corner reached the far post, and he provided a second assist, this time for Matus Humenik who's rising half volley from the knock down found the roof of the net. Flynn would shortly come off, but the damage had been largely done, Rendla missing a chance to add another, before Celtic full back Daniel Lafferty headed wide from a late set piece as we missed a very late chance to earn a draw.

Slovakia Under-19's (0) 2 - Andrej Rendla (66), Matus Humenik (72)
Northern Ireland Under-19's (1) 1 - Liam Bagnall (20)
Attendance :- 811

So a disappointing start result wise, but not necessarily from a performance aspect. A few of these teenagers showed themselves in a very good light with their performances, while a few such as Johnny Flynn didn't have such a good day, and will now be worried for their places in the immediate future for the Under-19's, including back in Ulster next Monday when the team will take on a talented Czech Republic outfit in Larne.

[neilhoskins77]

Friday 5th September 2008
With Northern Ireland's senior team playing tomorrow for the first time under my management, I need to make a decision on who will be our Captain going forward. It's almost symbolic I feel to pick my own skipper, so I do just that. Ipswich Town defender Gareth McAuley will wear the armband, with former armband wearer Aaron Hughes selected as his deputy.

Today however I return to the scene of yesterdays defeat with the Under-19 side, this time to take charge of the Under-21 side. The Slovaks have fast tracked 16 year old Austria Vienna midfielder Vladimir Kapral up into the higher age group squad, and he has already played five times for them and scored his first Senior goal. Aside from a goalkeeper also playing with the Vienna club and in line for his Under-21 debut, their squad is domestic based apart from two other players with big overseas clubs.

21 year old attacking midfielder Erik Jendrisek signed for Kaiserlautern in the German Bundesliga.2 last summer, and is already close to 30 League appearances for them. It will be a much tougher route to the First Team at Chelsea for 18 year old winger Miroslav Stoch, who is in his third season at Stamford Bridge and hasn't yet made a League appearance. If selected this pair will certainly cause us problems tomorrow if we can't find a way to shackle them.

Under-21 International Friendly
Stadion Antona Maltinskeho, Trnava, Slovakia
Slovakia Under-21's v Northern Ireland Under-21's
Starting Lineup :- Trevor Carson (Chesterfield); Chris Casement (Ipswich Town), David Armstrong (Heart of Midlothian), Craig Cathcart © (Plymouth Argyle), Ross Black (Newry City); Ryan Berry (Glentoran), Chris Turner (Partick Thistle), Phillip Lowry (Nottingham Forest), Alan Teggart (Rochdale); Martin Paterson (Burnely), Mark McAllister (Linfield).
Substitutes :- Rory McArdle (Rochdale), Jonathan Tuffey (Partick Thistle), Cian Hughton (Grays Athletic), Andy Little (Rangers), David Howland (Port Vale), Martin Donnelly (Crusaders), Daryl Fordyce (Hartlepool United).

This is the appetiser for the Under-21's, with a competitive game coming early next week against Estonia in the final Qualifier in the Group Stage for the Under-21 Euros. There is more representation here for the domestic Leagues in Ulster with three home based players included in the starting lineup. Wary of what happened yesterday, I set us up in a variation of a defensive 4-4-2 with the wingers asked to be defensively responsible. I don't like the feeling of defeat.....

I certainly had a sinking feeling about this stadium when we fell behind within two minutes! Miroslav Stoch and Juraj Kucka did the build up work, and the latter sent a pass through to Erik Jendrisek who slid his low shot beyond Trevor Carson's dive and into the far bottom corner. Carson would get his hands to the ball moments later when he tipped Stoch's shot over the bar. A few minutes later Stoch sent over a corner to the far post that Jakub Sylvestr headed into the side netting. It would take us a half hour to create any attacking threat of note, a nice short passing play with a series of one-two's got the ball into the box and Mark McAllister laid it off to Martin Paterson, but the Burnley striker didn't get anything like enough power on his shot to trouble Jakub Jakubov. We were getting ourselves into the game now though, Alan Teggart coming in from his wing and finding Phillip Lowry who's curling shot just missed the top corner. With half time fast approaching, Craig Cathcart sent the ball long over the Slovakian defence from the edge of his own box, and Paterson timed his run beautifully to stay onside, and angled his run in on goal, but as he took his shot Jakubov got his leg in the way and the ball hit his knee and flew over the bar. We started slowly, but we were well in the game and we could have done without half time at all now.

I was a bit concerned that we may have missed our chance and applied all the pressure we could muster on Slovakia, and that half time would give them an opportunity to reorganise. I need not have worried, less than two minutes after the restart we won a corner, which Teggart swung in and David Armstrong met with a powerful header. The ball bounced down off the underside of the cross bar, landing on the line and bouncing back up, where Jakubov made the mistake of trying to make a grab for it and only helped it over the line and we were level! I dipped into my replacement options just after the hour mark, Daryl Fordyce replacing the largely ineffective McAllister. We would survive an attempted counter attack from sub Tomas Matjan, as his cut back across goal found no one, and punished our hosts once more from a set piece in the 66th minute, Teggart once more with the corner delivery and Cathcart with the glancing header at the near post to put us ahead. Now we had to stay ahead, for which our bench would be vital. Rory McArdle came on in the 78th minute in place of Paterson as we switched to five at the back, and moments later Stoch never really made up his mind if he was going to shoot or cross from a free kick out wide, and the ball simply flew through the box and out of play. More changes would come, three in the last five minutes as I looked to waste time off the clock and Slovakia would create only one more chance of note, Matjan going to the floor in the box which the referee emphatically waved off as a fair challenge, the ball breaking to Kucka who drove a shot that Carson pushed away, but not to safety, Martin Nosek trying to hit the top corner and missing by inches, which was great news for us!

Slovakia Under-21's (1) 1 - Erik Jendrisek (2)
Northern Ireland Under-21's (0) 2 - Jakub Jakubov (47 og), Craig Cathcart (66)
Attendance :- 1,965

That was an excellent performance once we had got through the initial shock of conceding so early on. With the squad potentially stronger for the second part of the double header next week as well, with Niall McGinn and Thomas Stewart hoping to be fit for the trip to Estonia in the final Qualifier of our Group Five campaign in the European Under-21 Championships.