Striker Ronan Murray won his 11th Republic of Ireland U19 cap on Thursday evening as his side beat Poland 1-0 in Dublin in their second friendly of the week. Murray, who scored in Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over the Poles, came on as a sub at half-time, while team-mate Ian McLoughlin remained on the bench throughout.
The games against Poland were preparation for Ireland’s European Championships qualifying elite phase matches in Ukraine in May when they take on England, the hosts and Bosnia.
Town manager Roy Keane says that neither Murray nor academy team-mate David Cawley, who missed out on the Irish U19 squad due to injury, will be amongst the youngsters who will be pushed into the first team squad in the remaining weeks of the season: "No, Ronan Murray needs to get fitter. David Cawley needs to get fitter as well, he’s done reasonably well but those young kids have to get fitter.
"But different lads go through different stages when they’re 17 or 18, you see Connor, who is a big strong boy, but the boys you just mentioned are still growing, so they’ll be stronger for a good summer pre-season with us next year.”
Murray and Cawley are both understood to have been guaranteed professional contracts with the Blues when they joined the academy. Town are expected to announce in the next few days which of the other second-year scholars — Tom Eastman, Billy Clark, Seb Dunbar and Luke Hyam - have been offered professional terms. Keeper McLoughlin’s 18-month professional deal is up at the end of June.