Striker Parrott joins Kenny’s young guns
TROY PARROTT, Michael Obafemi and Nathan Collins will be on Euro duty next week for the Republic of Ireland Under 21s rather than the seniors. Manager Stephen Kenny confirmed yesterday the highly regarded trio are ‘available for selection’ for the Euro U21 doubleheader against Armenia and Sweden and ‘are on stand-by for the seniors.’ Dubliner Parrott, the exciting 17-year-old Spurs striker, has yet to play for the U21s and Kenny is keen to integrate him into the group. ‘Troy has been unfortunate in the calendar year with two injuries... at Tottenham, the fact that he’s training with the first team and doing so well speaks volumes for him.’ Kenny hailed the selection of Collins as captain of Championship outfit Stoke City as ‘unique’ for an 18year-old. Regarding the eligibility of Ryan Johansson, the Bayern Munich midfielder, Kenny said: ‘The international department are dealing with that situation.’ Under Kenny, the U21s have won their opening qualifier, against Luxembourg, before a successful run in the Toulon Tournament in June. ‘It really is an unprecedented year. We’ve 12 U21 internationals. Most years there’d be five or maybe six,’ he said. He added: ‘It’s a very young squad. Eleven players are available in the next campaign. I don’t have any players who were involved in the last one.’ Kenny has called up Danny McNamara (Newport), Gavin Kilkenny (Bournemouth), Jonathan Afolabi (Celtic) and Collins for the first time. Kenny’s U21 selection, coupled with the involvement of Waterford and Bohemians in the Scottish Challenge Cup next week, impacts on the FAI Cup quarter-finals. The FAI are expected to confirm that Galway United versus Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers against UCD will go ahead on Saturday, September 8. Waterford versus Dundalk is likely to played on Monday, September 9 with Crumlin United facing Bohs on September 15.
Maynooth stopper Mark Travers saved three penalties out of three as Bournemouth were spared embarrassment by Forest Green Rovers with a 3-0 penalty shoot-out win in the EFL Cup last night.