FAI try again with AGM as Irish sides join Europe’s elite
THE longest AGM in FAI history should finally run down the clock in Dublin’s Liffey Valley today at the third time of asking having kicked off in the Mansion House last July.
The unfinished business for delegates will include voting to approve Kerry FC’s membership of the 2023 League of Ireland.
That should be a mere formality as the Kingdom’s first senior club have already been listed in First Division fixtures and have secured a licence from the FAI to compete. There are four directors’ positions to be decided by ballot, two of whom are independents, Packie Bonner and Robert Watt.
From the football side of the board FAI, Niamh O’Mahony, is being nominated for the League of Ireland vacancy and Tom Browne is nominated by the SFAI.
This will be the last AGM for FAI chairman Roy Barrett, who last week stated his intention to step down. As there is no definitive timeline in place regarding his departure, Barrett could stay in the chair for several months.
Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland’s underage international teams are among Europe’s elite with three of our international sides now placed in the top 10 in the latest UEFA rankings. The Men’s Under-19s and Under-17s teams and the Women’s Under-17s are placed in the top 10 with the Under-21s and Women’s Under-19s also in Europe’s top 20.
In the latest ranking calculations, Tom Mohan’s MU19s have risen two positions from 10th to eighth while Colin O’Brien’s MU17s have solidified their ninth-placed position. James Scott’s WU17s made significant progress from 10th to sixth place with Dave Connell’s WU19s also progressing from 18th to 17th spot.
Confirmation of Ireland’s rise at underage international level follows on from the Under-21s who have reached 19th in the UEFA rankings — an all-time high at that level.
Under Mohan, Ireland MU19s reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Under-19 Championships in 2019. For O’Brien, he had reached three successive UEFA European Under-17 Championship before the COVID-19 outbreak and has successfully reached every Elite Round since his appointment to Head Coach in 2016.