Republic of Ireland - Euro 2016 Thread

[darren1983]

After coming through a tough qualifying campaign and then the Play-Offs the Irish have made it back to back Euro championships.

Tough Group with Belgium, Italy and Sweden but hopefully a 3rd place group finish is possible.

Provisional 35 man squad:

Goalkeepers: Shay Given, Darren Randolph, David Forde, Kerien Westwood

Defenders: Seamus Coleman, Cyrus Christie, Paul McShane), Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh, John O'Shea, Alex Pearce Shane Duffy, Marc Wilson, Stephen Ward

Midfielders: Aiden McGeady, James McClean, Glenn Whelan, James McCarthy, Jeff Hendrick, David Meyler, Stephen Quinn, Darron Gibson, Harry Arter, Wes Hoolahan, Eunan O'Kane, Anthony Pilkington, Robbie Brady, Jonathan Walters, Jonathan Hayes, Callum O'Dowda

Forwards: Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Kevin Doyle, David McGoldrick, Daryl Murphy

[Baptista_8]

Is there really any need to name 35 players?

[darren1983]

Probably not but then when it was named quite a few players were (and some still are) involved in playoffs so assume it's to cover for those guys missing some of the friendlies

[eldeniro]

I'll be happy enough if we can do better than in 2012, I'm pretty sure that's the worst any team has ever performed at the tournament. I could see us drawing against both sweden and italy and getting ruined by belgium, but anything's possible with this team. I don't really expect us to get out of the group though so I'll be pleasantly surprised if we manage to maintain some semblance of dignity

[Baptista_8]

I really can't remember you at Euro 2012 :confused:

[darren1983]

Nor do any of us that watched us play tbh

[eldeniro]

we had a very difficult group to be fair but I remember thinking that it was the end of shay given's career as ireland number 1.

bringing on paul ****ing green against spain was also a highlight.

[Trevomac]

Is there really any need to name 35 players?

Well yeah, a large number of players were used in qualifying like Darren said and also it gives the manager a chance to view more players if someone impresses late on.

I can see us beating Sweden which will be enough to put us through

And in Euro 2012, the 2 qualifying teams from our group made it to the final

[James_W]

Very tough group again, but with Ireland you just never know. Could sneak through.

[deerokus]

Ireland looked really poor in qualifying, quite an achievement to get through.

[darren1983]

Marc Wilson ruled out.

[eldeniro]

it feels like one of the weakest irish teams I can ever remember at a tournament but it's great that paul green isn't there.

[paz]

My friend has 4 tickets available for Italy vs Ireland. PM me if you want them,

[Trevomac]

Please don't let Shane Long get injured

[AdyTaylor]

First choice GK?

[James_W]

Randolph. Took Shay's place when he got injured and has done nothing to lose it. Nor has Shay done enough to win it- could be an argument for Westwood I'm sure, but I like Randolph.

[Razzler]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jun/06/martin-oneill-apology-inappropriate-comment-irealnd-euro-2016

Oh MON

Reports have emerged that O’Neill joked he had taken the coaches Steve Guppy and Steve Walford along to the Super Bowl in the United States so people did not think he and his assistant, Roy Keane, were “queers”.

If Hodgson said something like this we'd never hear the end of it, dinosaur, etc but this will probably just skip by. Do these people not think before they open their mouths Just a silly and needless thing to say

[darren1983]

Hero's the lot of them