O’Halloran’s England call

Footballer James O’Halloran has been picked by England Schoolboys for the second year running. O’Halloran is in the squad for the under-18 Centenary Shield campaign which starts with an away game against Scotland on March 3. The Maidstone under-18 player, a sixth-former at Wrotham School, was the youngest player as England took the title last season. A year on, he’s playing in a different position and has been named vice-captain. O’Halloran, 17, said: “The manager thinks my natural position is left-back so he put me there in the trials. “He likes me there because I have an attacking mindset as well. “It’s funny because I played on the left wing last year and for Maidstone I’m a No.10. “So for one team I play near the striker and then I’m playing near the goalkeeper.” The vice-captaincy came as a bonus. O’Halloran added: “It was a surprise. I didn’t expect that. I thought I was just going to be a player again. “I haven’t been a natural talker but I have been talking a lot more. It gets the team going.” The squad were treated to a camp at Manchester United’s Carrington training ground and have won all their warm-up games. It’s O’Halloran’s final year with England Schoolboys and he wants to go out in style and catch the eye of scouts. He said: “We had a good week at Carrington and hopefully we can take that into the games. “I was the youngest player last year and didn’t get on in the first game but towards the end I was getting more game time. “The games were recorded and it was my ball that was whipped in for the final goal. “There will be so many different scouts and I’m hoping this may lead to something.”