With our U20 and U18 NIFL sides in their best form of the season at the moment, the recent international break in March was going to prove interesting in terms of selection for our young student athletes.
First team prospect Dylan Sloan was named in the Northern Ireland U19s squad alongside second-year student athlete Sean Brown, with the pair jetting off to compete in three vital European qualifiers. Kye Livingstone received a call-up to the Gibraltar U21 squad for a friendly against Liechtenstein, while six of our student athletes were selected for the Northern Ireland U18 Schoolboys.
Alongside his U19 call-up, Sean Brown joined Odhran McCart, Caolan Donnelly, Ben Walker, Jack Hastings and Rian Brown in the the Schoolboys squad to compete in the Centenary Shield, while Jack Hastings was also selected to represent Northern Ireland U17s in separate games.
First-year student athlete Harrison Knight is also currently in the USA representing the Steven Gerrard Academy in the prestigious Dallas Cup, with the tournament kicking off this past weekend.
Sean Brown and Dylan Sloan were in the hunt for European qualification with the Northern Ireland U19 squad as they took on France, Romania and Norway. Dylan Sloan made an appearance in all three of the games, starting in one whilst Sean Brown made one appearance as he started against Romania. After a narrow 1-0 defeat to France in the opening game, the side would go on to suffer a 3-1 defeat to Romania and a 5-2 defeat to Norway that would end their qualification dreams.
Kye Livingstone enjoyed a trip back home to represent Gibraltar U21s in their friendly against Liechtenstein U23s at the Victoria Stadium. Kye started the game and helped his team-mates to a 1-1 draw against older and higher ranked opposition.
Our six student athletes representing the Northern Ireland U18 Schoolboys team in the Centenary Shield all played a major role in the competition last month. Odhran McCart captained the side as they began the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Scotland before back-to-back defeats against Wales and Republic of Ireland. The Schoolboys are set to face England in the same competition later this month.
Alongside playing for the Schoolboys, Jack Hastings represented Northern Ireland U17s for their fixtures against the Netherlands, England and Denmark. Jack started two out of the three games, against England and Denmark, in what proved to be a tough run of fixtures that ended with three defeats and dashed their qualification hopes.
