Wanted Across the Water

Tommy Lonergan will be off to Finland the week after the cup final with the Ireland U21s. They have been drawn to play the Finns in the European Championship playoff with the away leg first. Details to be finalised, but both legs are to be fixed for between the 13th and 17th of November. The winners progress to the European Championships in Serbia and Albania next summer. 

Separately, reports in the UK today have linked Lonergan with a fierce battle to bring him back to England. At least five Premier League clubs are reported to have had scouts in attendance at Turner’s Cross on Tuesday specifically to watch the Dunboyne man. Those who have been named were Sunderland, Everton, Leeds United, Brentford and Brighton while ‘several Championship clubs’ are also said to have been watching him.

And what did he show them? Two superb goals in a Man of the Match performance against an England squad supposedly valued at £400 million. The 22-year-old is the hottest property in the country and is in devastating form heading into tonight’s FAI Cup semi-final and the league run-in.