BY HARRY WALSH

RAMELTON footballer Barry McNamee has been named in the Republic of Ireland U21 squad for the forthcoming UEFA Championships qualifier against the Faroe Islands in Toftir on Wednesday, August 14.

The Derry City play-maker is the only home based player in Noel King’s squad. He is joined in the squad by two other players who have strong Donegal connections, namely Shane Duffy (Everton) and Sean McDermott (Sandnes Ulf FC).

Duffy’s father Brian is a native of Letterkenny while McDermott, who is Norwegian-born, qualifies for Ireland via his Donegal born father, Terence who is from Mountcharles.

The Irish will commence their qualifying campaign for the 2015 finals in Group Six with a visit to the Faroes, who have already played their first two games. The Faroese lost 3-0 away to Montenegro and held Romania 2-2 at home in two games in June.

“I’ve watched the Faroes twice now and if anybody thinks we just have to turn up and collect the three points then they are kidding themselves,” said King.

“They’ve got off to a solid start and proved in the Romania game that they will be a hard side to beat. We will be going there looking to win the game and people might expect us to do so but I am anticipating this being a tough test.”

“With the elevation of Robbie Brady and Jeff Hendrick to the senior squad – and everybody in our group is delighted for them – it shows that the U21 team is an excellent step towards playing senior international football.”
The finals of the 2015 UEFA U21 Championships are to be held in the Czech Republic with ultimately four European teams then qualifying for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.

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