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How is it inexplicable? I would say it is fairly explicable. There are loads of reasons for not capping somebody for the sake of it.

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Sounds like a come and get me plea . Wouldn’t be surprised if he drops out with injury ahead of the Gibraltar game

'' “I wouldn’t hold back from the chance to play for Ireland in the qualifiers because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Connell said ''

He's dual, he feels both, he's ours if we chose to get it done now.

So, get it done is what we should do. 

 

We've been bitten twice, Rice and to a lesser extent Grealish

There's nothing to say that Connell will turn out a top player, but give him 15 minutes at the end of the Gibraltar game to avoid any ifs, buts or maybes.

 

So he should get a cap ahead of better players in the hope he might be a better player? I have never seen him play and know very little about him, I would see that  the majority on here would be the seem. If he is good enough and is a genuine talent, then he certainly should be capped, but throwing players in for the sake of it has potential to backfire terribly.

Based on that, and yes he could turn into another Paddy Lee or Joe Lapira, but I would put him on ahead of some of the other player if the game, as it should be, safe.

Hindsight is a great thing, but a lot are saying it should have been done with Rice against Moldova, ahead of I think it was McGeady was the last sub

 

I think I have covered everything

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's a case of better the devil you don't know.

Yep! Look how our players improve drastically the less they play for us.

He can fook off. It's clear he doesn't love the EIRE.  Its exactly wha Grealish's brother said on here about Union Jack.

Sounds like he wont be in the final squad no matter what he does at the camp

wait and see i suppose

getting burnt three times would be terrible 

It would be braindead stuff from us if we get burned again especially when the opportunity is there to throw him on against Gibraltar.

 

Ah come on, it'll surely be a non contest in Dublin

In fairness to him, he's hardly going to go around saying he is going to cap players just to tie them down!

Correct. I don’t think anybody else does it anyway.

The majority of those the Welsh have capped have proved they have potential, as well as Wales having a smaller playing pool. It certainly isn’t as flagrant as implied on here.

 

Plus wan.

People are calling for Connell to be awarded a cap in the upcoming matches not for no particular reason - 'for the sake of it' -  but rather because of his talent, the form he's shown for Bolton and, by general consensus, his great potential, and to avoid the endless speculative nonsense that surrounded the will-he-won't-he Rice saga.

Taylor's call-up does seem like politicking, especially as he was recently called-up bu both Wles and Scotland at underage level and chose Scotland.

Wales aren't picking these lads because of lack of depth - they're picking them to make sure they don't lose them in the future, similar to capping Harry Wilson 6 years ago at 16 when he was playing for Liverpool's academy side, many years before making a senior club appearance in the championship: what a player he's turning out to be.  

Wales actually, sadly for us and unusually, have greater depth than us at the moment - the following players would be well ahead of Taylor or Levitt in (current) ability and experience and yet weren't picked (most of whom are available):

And why are only most of them available? Surely all of them should be available, otherwise you are  only undermining your own argument twice!

Ledley's career, for Wales at least, is over. Gwion Edwards is sh*te, and Lee Evans was never funny. I would imagine the others have a reason for not being in the squad, he is hardly being called up ahead of Ramsey, for example, hence why they have given one of their more promising young fellas a call-up. A quick look at the Welsh forum and there wasn't a huge amount of surprise about his call-up. There is a lot more about Taylor, who it appears has split loyalties between his Welsh mother and Scottish father.

Anyway, how many of the young Welsh players that they have capped to tie-down have not proved to be good enough for them? If they were just doing it to tie players down they would have a few flops? I am sure I remember people on here  saying they only capped Tom Lawrence to tie him down, despite the fact he wasn't eligible for anybody else, or at least he is Welsh and had no interest in playing for anybody else!

 I would say the opinion passed as fact on here, that the Welsh are just  capping lads to tie them down and we are stupid not to be doing the same, is greatly exaggerated. I would say it is as much to do with their ability and, as I mentioned, Wales' lack of depth.

In a year or so, we may well be in a similar situation as our younger players mature. Connell could be seen as an early example. He probably isn't ready, but our lack of midfielders means he may get a chance.

How many of the young players they have capped  haven't adapted to international football? They certainly have a policy of giving youth a chance and  it is nearly always been justified with hindsight. I certainly wouldn't be assuming they called Levitt up to cap him. It is most likely to give him experience as he seems to be one of the standouts of their next generation.

Taylor might be the same, although there is at least some evidence to the contrary, given he has been called up by Scotland too.

Loads of the dual and tri-nationality players Wales have capped as teens when they were playing youth are reserve football have (already) gone on to prove their worth.  

If you don't think Wales don't have a clearly thought out policy here (Harry Wilson being capped at 16 with one minute to go in a game while in Liverpool's academy!), you're deluded.  

And furthermore, now, as a result of that policy, they have more depth nowadays than we do, a huge change from decades gone by.  

They certainly would not have lost the likes of Rice, Grealish and (Michael) Keane.  

I’m not sure what I am arguing against here as nearly all of that backs up my point! They are all very good footballers, that’s why they were capped. What Wales clearly have is a very good link between their youth and senior teams, something we need to address.The fact remains that all of those players mentioned, as well as the other young players not mentioned becaused they weren’t dual nationals, immediately became squad regulars. If they capped Wilson at 16 and we didn’t hear of him for a few years, you would have more of an argument. Wales have a history of capping players young, something that has become more apparent in recent years, largely as they got results from it in France. Most of that group came through together, many of them capped at seventeen, so they are going to try and repeat it and, given some of the talent mentioned, they might. 

I have no problem with us trying to follow that blueprint, but we need to have the players coming through( it looks like we will in a year or two) for that. I also think people are deliberately misunderstanding it, and exaggerating that, to suit their own ‘football manager’ type agendas of ‘losing’ players.  I have no problem capping young lads, no matter who else they are eligible for, once they are good enough or going to be good enough.

The problem, with Grealish at least, was identification and connection between the seniors and underage teams. He was clearly good enough. In the end though, he didn’t want to play for us.

Keane never wanted to play for us, so it is irrelevant.

Rice was a bit of a freak occurrence. People can talk about capping him against Moldova, but the reality is even Rice had no intention of playing for anybody else until Southgate called him up. He also seems to have been something of a late developer.

The most important thing here should always be ability and potential, not just getting them tied down.

It's understandable. Rice played for Ireland (cause let's be honest) he didn't know how good he himself was going to be and how soon that talent would suddenly attract attention. 

I'm sure there are plenty of talented under age dual players who think that an Irish international call up will be as good as it gets. Maybe Connell is committed, but let's give him another before capping him. Let's see where his stance is if he has joined an new club and is playing a blinder. 

Why wait? Then if he does defect we've completely wasted our time and a squad place that could have been used to integrate some other young player. Some people seem to think competitively capping a player like Connell would devalue the Irish shirt, but surely there can be no bigger waste and devaluation of the shirt than the time spent on and caps handed out to Rice...

They should be capped on merit, not eligibility.

Absolutely. And I don’t believe for one second or will it cross Mick’s mind in the next 2 weeks and rightly so.

We rarely beat teams convincingly enough to be taking liberties and capping them for the sake of it? We scraped by Gibraltar 2 months ago. Yes we hammered them in the past but I don’t think that’s going to happen this time.

If Connell is good enough and interested he’ll get capped in time. And that’s a big if

Whelan is needed for the full 90 vs Denmark, Josh Cullen a possible starter vs Gibraltar. An injury to either of those players and Connell is the next defensive midfielder in the team. 

If Connell is still in the panel for the games, he'll be capped. As mentioned above, Whelan plays 90 mins against Denmark, I expect Cullen to start against Gibraltar. Had we gone 3 nil up against Gibraltar last time, I'd say both Byrne and Cullen would have got debuts. Not to be.

This time around, the match will be put to bed within 60 mins and Connell will then be capped.

Yes, I think you'll find that by definition, it does. If we cap him, he cannot play for any other nation, therefore he is "tied" to us. Now he could refuse to ever play for us again (which technically is a breach of FIFA rules that we could seek punishment against him for, so again you're incorrect to say no "obligation" exists), but exactly how likely is that? Stephen Ireland is the only player I can think of that has put himself into a long-term international exile having been capped, and he's from Cork! 

Even discussing "merit", it's so subjective. What sort of merit? Merit over the past month? Merit over the last year? Merit over the last decade? Merit over the week training camp...... Capping Connell and players like him could be "merited" for any number of reasons, none less so than in helping to secure the future of our national. The general consensus on here seems to be that 95% of English born players do not have Ireland as their first choice anyway, so why exactly does it matter if we cap them after 15 club appearances or 50? We are not going to be anymore their first choice after 100 club appearances than we are after 1, so all we're doing is taking the risk that England come sniffing around them.

Absolutely spot on. Connell needs to be capped against the Gib to avoid another Rice saga dragging on for 6 months. I don't think I have the patience to deal with that nonsense again. He clearly wants to be there so cap him and he'll feel part of the squad going forward.

Ya i agree with this thinking. If i was manager id take this type of stance. I actually think its not right to tie a young guy down just because we want him to play for us. If they want to play for us they will. If they dont or are "thinking" about it well then let them fcuk right off. Bucks like bamford i wouldnt let near the squad even. 

That's a myth. Cascarino was eligible.

Why do people still think this? Although they did sell the serialisation of the book on it to a degree. But even in the book it's made clear he was eligible. 

Javier 

 

sensible football says bring both Cullen and Connell in vs the rock. I will start Cullen and replace him.with Connell with 15 to go.

Ah stop ffs. Cap should be earned not just thrown out like confetti. (Joe Lapria)

Willo Flood and Sean Thornton showed loads of promise. Had they been English born and only bursting on the scene now, there'd be lads calling for them to starters. 

Firstly, and I can't emphasis this enough, the bit in bold needs stamping out. It's f**king ridiculous!!

I think my own posting history attests to my knowledge of 'such thing' quite well. It  isn't in doubt anywhere. It also doesn't change the fact that players have a choice to make. From an ideological point of view, and if I am honest that is my sole point of view, I don't agree with capping them to tie them down. It seems unjust and reflects badly on us and our own respect for our team. I understand that other people are less moralistic in these matters.

Lets just say Wilson is an example that backs up your case, it doesn't change the fact that you are exaggerating Wales' policy to suit your argument that we should cap everybody who looks remotely capable. They may do it, but largely they have had some excellent players coming through, recent history of success in bringing young players through together and a lack of depth that makes it easier to do so.

You also have no idea of how the players themselves feel now about their decisions, or would have if they stayed,  despite claiming to understand 'dual-heritage', nobody has.It would be the same if they remained with us.  It will be as unique to them as my view of Irishness is to me or yours is to you. It is also liable to change, my view of Ireland and Irishness is different from when I was 25 and that is different from when I was 25. You have no idea if Rice would or wouldn't have regretted playing for us in five years time. All we can do is surmise. I do think it is fair to say that if Rice continued with us he would have given his all, but what would his thoughts be if he continued to develop into a top player and England won the next World Cup?

I also think I was one of the few people on here who understood and respected his decision(not looking for f**king kudos or anything there, merely saying) and pointed out it wasn't contradictory for him to care about playing for us and then choosing England. I think players should be allowed make the decision themselves without having their heads turned when they are barely old enough to vote. We will lose some, we will gain more, but it would reflect far better on us as a footballing nation.

If the players have shown the potential and ability they should be picked on those two requirements only.

With the whole Rice fiasco, it does make you think about what if the team beat Denmark at the Aviva and went to Russia. Rice is probably an Ireland player if that happened. 

If Rice gets capped, I'd bet my house Luca does not get picked for the Portugal camp. He then continues his fine form post Bolton and gets called up by England and goes on to be the greatest sitting midfielder of a generation.

It's all if and buts. 

I nearly spat out my dinner

straight from the brian clough school of management 

Are you sure? Callum O'Dowda, Aiden O'Brien, Ronan Curtis? 

Yea im with Gabrieleire on this . theirs plenty of players who wouldn't have a second thought about playing for anyone else. 

 

I can understand where people come from regarding some 2nd gen and 3rd, but to say all of them is ridiculous. Richard Keogh too is another one. 

Sean Maguire was born in Luton, anyone know how long he lived their for? I don't even consider him as a 2nd gen player for us. 

One way or the other we can’t go through another grealish or rice saga. 

I have to agree with you. If Connell gets a big move during the summer, the speculation will gather pace that he might defect to England (irrespective of whether there is any truth in it).  The four competitive games in the autumn are going to be extremely challenging (Swiss at home, Georgia and Swiss away, and then the Danes at home).  There won't be much scope to cap him then. Why not take the pragmatic approach and cap him against Gibraltar and avoid the endless speculation that we endured in the cases of Grealish and Rice.

Cap him in a game when the 3points are secured and safe

If he turns into a world beater great, if not, feck all lost