The Republic of Ireland's Secret Golden Generation

Ranked 48th in the FIFA World Rankings, the Republic of Ireland haven't qualified for the World Cup in over 20 years, they didn't win a single game in 2020, and in 2021 they lost 1-0 to Luxembourg.

It's been a bleak few years then, but now there is a sneaking suspicion that something special might be on the horizon, thanks to the likes of Evan Ferguson at Brighton, Gavin Bazunu at Southampton, and Caoimhín Kelleher at Liverpool.

In this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at the state of soccer in Ireland, the future prospects of the national team, and whether this current crop of youngsters are worthy of the name 'golden generation'.

[adamdickinson]

As a fan of Preston North End, who've done 99% of their international recruitment from Ireland in the past 10 years, this is great news

[philiporeilly]

I support Shamrock Rovers, we have the best youth facilities of any LOI club and its basically a sports club with a bar and a few astro pitches. The league has been criminally underfunded for decades and doesn't look like changing any time soon. Great video as always!

[danielmurphy]

Well done again Alfie on another great in-depth video.

As an Irishman, it is so frustrating with the domestic situation be it from government or the FAI not caring about grassroots and LOI football. Im a season-ticket holder with Shamrock Rovers and can really see the potential there, but it all seems to be working against us (and the rest of the league).

As for the national team, we are in a phase of transition as after even Egan or Duffy who just turned into their 30s, there are almost no players between 23-28 in the squad meaning we are depending on the younger players too soon. In 5 or 10 years time we may look stronger but of course no one really knows. I have faith in Stephen Kenny to help the young players come through, and hope he can stay in charge to see it come.

As for a United Ireland league, while it would likely appeal more generally and there have been discussions from different backers, the main issues seem to be financial packages and the loss of European spots so until it’s done politically i wouldnt expect it to arrive any sooner than that.

[barry]

The lack of funding for soccer in Ireland is largely down to the government not trusting the FAI after how they’ve wasted money over the years and got into serious debt because of one greedy bastard

[wwCs]

Fantastic video as always but one small complaint: GAA is NOT a middle class game (that would be rugby). GAA is as working class as soccer, but GAA being more popular in rural areas/towns/villages and soccer being more popular in more urban towns/cities. While soccer might have the statistical participation numbers, the heart beat of every village and town in rural Ireland is its local GAA club. Not trying to cause divide either, Love all sports and Irish kids being multi-sport athletes should be used to Ireland’s advantage

[irishred]

I would definitely have to disagree that Gaelic games are "middle class", more rural yes but that's a different thing. Also the participation numbers are skewed because of Dublin having such a big population, outside of the capital Gaelic football and hurling are far more popular than soccer. Every tiny village in Ireland has a GAA club, they don't all have soccer clubs. Also the current success of our rugby team and the world class underage set up the IRFU have in place mean rugby union is fast catching up as well. Good video all the same, interesting perspective.

[smilingrat]

Festy Ebosele is another player with huge potential at right back. Could definitely see him thriving if we play a 3

[Dkmo]

Not Irish in anyway but thise video was incredible. The research is cohesive and the narrative is easy to invest in. Good combo of your video essays and the usual Sevens.

[nolans]

Leaving out the fact that I'm Irish, this is an exceptionally well researched video. What a great job!! The future does look good for us. Having played football in Dublin at the highest level growing up, the amount of players who just never got a chance and stopped playing is a sad indictment on the FAI. The opportunity is there for us to be a force.

[kerrymafia]

Alfie, long time Irish listener (as you know) and this is an excellent video. The treatment of Irish football here has for decades been a disgrace, and our long term approach to it has been to let English clubs develop our players, and this is a better expose than almost any Irish outlet has produced in that time (depressing). Also, GAA is not a middle class sport (small complaint) and you are dead right to not get into Irish unification (given your accent). Brilliant as always.

[pjkerrigan]

Another really promising midfielder is Crystal Palace’s Killian Phillips. He’s 20 years old and currently on loan at Shrewsbury. He’s also got like 30 appearances for Drogheda. Hasn’t played for Palace in the PL yet, but he looked great in preseason and seems to be doing well on loan. Could be one for the future.

[Grautwok]

Great video as always, Alfie! I would love a video of a similar style about Norway, seeing as we haven't qualified for a tournament since 2000, but now have an incredibly talented squad coming up with two of the best players in the world

[FifaKingz]

The studying of Irish politics and other sports really shows the work you put into these. Great Video

[bababababababa]

0:17 Ireland being literally one spot below Ivory Coast is so funny to me

[McdonaghBrosGaming]

As an Irish man you done this video justice it's beautiful to see our little island been blessed with this generation of talented youth

[IRLREAPER]

It's not often I hear a British person say Taoiseach, let alone pronounce it perfectly. Fair play!

[JinZanmato]

Similar story with Norway. We were good in the 90's, rubbish for the past 20 years with a declining league. The darkest periode we concede a home goal against San Marino, lost to Moldova. Were ranked 87 at the FIFA ranking, 2 spots below Faroe Islands. Yes, that was truly embarrassing.

The league have improved a lot lately, with the best Norwegian teams being able to somewhat compete in Europe without being crushed. A lot of focus on develop talents. Two talisman in Haaland and Ødegaard. A new golden generation on its way and hopefully qualifying for our first major competition since 2000. 😅

[nicholas]

Listen to your videos every day in the car to uni, big congrats on 500k, well deserved and thank you for your dedication and hundreds of hours of content Alfie. Rarely comment video ideas but would love to see a video on Celtic and how dramatically Ange Postecoglou has turned the club back around to unrivalled dominance in Scotland since the disastrous season where Celtic lost out on the last of ten league titles in a row. Think it would be an interesting video!

[ronandubh]

Brilliant stuff as always, I'm a Sligo Rovers fan and I am very optimistic about the future of the LOI attendances are up for the league as a whole we've sold out most home games recently. Interest in the league is far higher than ever than I can remember. Young players who as you said would have in the past gone to England at 15 or 16 are staying in the league for longer. If we can get a more concerted effort from the FAI LOI and the Govt. I am really exited for what the future could be like

[robg]

It's a long story, but I settled on The Republic of Ireland rather than England in the early to mid 90s, and given how good The ROI were, It's been gutting and heartbreaking to see how much they've declined. So, this video gives me a real sense of hope for the future.