It's high time Ireland's young strikers deliver – signs show Evan ...
WHAT turned out to be Mick McCarthy’s final Ireland squad contained six strikers from Sheffield United, Luton, Stoke, Preston and Tottenham Hotspur.
The two at Bramall Lane — Callum Robinson and David McGoldrick — were playing in the Premier League.
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But it is fair to say there was little excitement around the familiar names in attack by the end of 2019 after several years when Ireland had to work bloody hard for goals.
Instead, all the attention was on the player about to play in the Premier League with Spurs — the uncapped Troy Parrott.
Had Brighton hotshot Aaron Connolly not been forced to withdraw through injury, there would have been ever more excitement.
That neither Parrott nor Connolly have enjoyed the type of career trajectory hoped for is well documented, with the Galway man currently without a club despite a decent year at Hull City.
Adam Idah joined the pair in the squad under Stephen Kenny, though the early stages of his career similarly had growing pains.
And the emergence of Evan Ferguson — who was 15 and already a Bohemians first-teamer when McCarthy named his final squad — would overtake them all.
Yet now, five years on, new Ireland boss Heimir Hallgrimsson may have a group of attackers that are not only potentially exciting but can also deliver.
Parrott and Idah are crucial to that.
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Parrott is now 22 and Idah 23, with both packing a lot of ups and downs into their early years.
But Dubliner Parrott was a revelation last season in the Netherlands on loan at Excelsior, scoring 17 goals to earn a permanent €8million move to AZ Alkmaar.
SFA under fire after posting video of Adam Idah goal against Rangers
As well as playing in the fifth-best league in Europe — according to Uefa — he will also play in Europe this term with AZ going straight into the Europa League group stage.
Idah, too, will be playing in Europe as Celtic look forward to the Champions League.
On loan in Glasgow last season, he joined permanently for £8.5m this week.
He will hope to become Celtic’s regular starter having come on as sub in twice as many games as he started during the loan stint, just as had been the case at Norwich.
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FOOTBALL legends Tony Cascarino, Stuart Pearce, Andy Reid and NeilO'Riordan will join The Irish Sun’s first live football preview event on Tuesday September 3 ahead of the Republic of Ireland v England match in The Aviva that weekend.
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An older forward, though newer at international level, is 28-year-old Sammie Szmodics.
He has joined Premier League newcomers Ipswich as a reward for his 33 goals for Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers last season and three in two games already this term.
Ferguson at Brighton misses the start of the season as he returns from injury, though his stock is expected to continue to rise.
And Hallgrimsson will watch Leicester’s Tom Cannon closely after he made his Ireland senior bow against Portugal in June.
What it means is the new Ireland gaffer can pick two strikers playing in Europe and three playing in the Premier League.
Compared to 2019 when those selected were at the wrong end of the Prem and the wrong end of the Championship, there are grounds for optimism again.
