Search icon

Football

23rd Mar 2018

CONFIRMED: Ireland team to play Turkey

Matthew Gault

Experimental.

Martin O’Neill has named his starting XI for the Republic of Ireland’s friendly clash with Turkey.

As expected, Bradford’s Colin Doyle starts in goal, 10 years after the keeper won his first cap under Steve Staunton. Declan Rice, Sean Maguire and Scott Hogan are also included in the team.

It’s international debuts for Hogan and Rice while Maguire makes his first start. Considering the trio’s form at club level, we’re excited to see what kind of impact they can have together turning out in green.

Hogan’s Aston Villa teammate Conor Hourihane starts in midfield alongside Jeff Hendrick and Alan Browne, who is also starting for the first time.

Oh yeah, and Seamus Coleman returns as captain!

It looks as though O’Neill has gone with a 3-5-2, with Duffy, Long and Rice at the back, Coleman and McClean as wing-backs, Browne, Hendrick and Hourihane in midfield with Maguire and Hogan partnering each other in attack.

It’s a decent team with some fresh faces. Right, let’s get at them! Bring home a result boys. It may only be a friendly but a win’s a win.

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10