Noddy

Either he'll come with the other senior players later, or he'll be needed in Blackpool's promotion drive. Either way, there's no doubt he'll be in the Ireland squad in the future.

We posted at the same time, so I missed this! I hope to head over after my last exam on the 19th. Excited

I know what you mean, but he is still very young, having just turned 18 in January. Taking his age into consideration, I'd say he has been getting a fair bit of recognition at club level, relatively speaking. He played in two Europa games, aged 17, where (in my biased opinion!) he played well and he's been captaining the reserves. There are quite a few more senior centrebacks in the squad that Moyes understandably will play ahead of Shane, given Shane's age and inexperience. Perhaps next season he'll play a few more first team games, or maybe he'll go on loan. The thing is, that unlike England or other 'bigger' international sides, the Irish ones are often left scraping the barrel for talent. If you look at the Ireland team, centreback is one of our weak positions, with only Richard Dunne being of any considerable talent and there are no real prospects coming through in that position (unless you deem Paul McShane worthy of being Dunne's successor ). I imagine that Trapattoni sees potential in Shane and wants to get a close look at him. Out of the last training camp, before the World Cup qualifiers, Trapattoni unearthed a few solid players who weren't quite playing regularly for their clubs; Glenn Whelan was one of them and he went on to play a crucial role in our midfield during the last campaign, even scoring an absolute rocket against Italy! I'm obviously delighted for Shane. Working with Trapattoni will be a great experience, since he's one of the greatest managers of our time and it will aid his development as he matures.

Named in the senior Ireland training camp squad for the May friendlies against Algeria and Paraguay. http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/0426/ireland.html

I think they have only scored 15 in the reserve league: http://www.evertonfc.com/match/premier-league-football-fixtures.html?team=14524

Just looking at the stats on the OS and it says Shane's the top scorer for the reserves! Is that up to date? If so, not bad for a centre half http://www.evertonfc.com/reserve-stats-2009/10.html

Would you sign someone like Djimi Traoré? He's got a Champions League medal... Ah no I know what you mean.

Is he needed? Perhaps so. Duffy could maybe go on loan next season and there might be a need to hold on to Senderos for backup, but would he be willing to sign in the knowledge that he's merely backup? Can't see him displacing Distin, Heitinga, Jagielka or Yobo.

I have no idea to be honest. If I get a chance to see any games I'll ask!

The Milk Cup is a great competition. There is another competition held around the same time in Derry called The Foyle Cup, which is equally as good, but it features more local Irish teams, with a few foreign teams. I'm pleased to say that the Derry youth teams always fare well in these and Shane Duffy played in it (as well as the Milk Cup) at various different levels. Here's a list of this year's entrants: http://www.foylecup.com/Foyle_Cup_2010/Entrants.html

Good post Louis. What a story! Good luck to him

Certainly is strange. It baffles me to be frank. I'd love to know if an agent or someone advised him to quit or if it was entirely his own doing. On reflection, perhaps that isn't the kind of character that Moyes would like to have in the team.

I don't think it's fair to say he's been 'shit'. He's been unlucky with niggling injuries and is obviously not back to 100%. He's not playing as much in Mancini's teams as a result of this and possibly because he doesn't exactly fit into Mancini's tactics. That said, Mancini has come out and said that he rates Ireland very highly and that he has a role in the team. It's obvious from his form in previous seasons that he is a fantastic player and I'd say he's better than Osman (not to mention younger). If Ireland was tempted to Goodison, I'd hope that Moyes would persuade him to come out of international retirement, because he's one of Ireland's best talents at the minute and we could do with him!

Hope he does well!

Ha, that'd be something! But he's hardly the first to do so and certainly won't be the last. Almost half the population of Northern Ireland don't even support them!

Northern Ireland fans are notorious for this bitterness (just look at how they reacted to Marc Wilson and Darron Gibson), but Shane is delighted to have finally changed and pursue a dream that he and I both held from as long as we played football (of course I am jealous!). Shane only just turned 18 and had always had a desire to play for the Republic. He wanted to change from the beginning, only for Worthington to fast-track him through the ranks, forcing him to make very tough decisions at a less than ideal age and when that wouldn't work, he tried to guilt him into staying, telling him he was 'letting the team and coaches down'. He even pulled out the stops getting Moyes to have a word in his ear to tell him to stay only a few months ago, before Shane's 18th birthday - imagine that, asking someone with that much influence over the kid advise him to stay, even if he didn't really want to. I'm glad he stuck to his guns and followed his dream. Just wish he did it a bit earlier and this media frenzy could have been avoided... although it has probably served to raise his profile, his every move will be scrutinised now! Some of their fans have come out with utterly cretinous, defamatory nonsense. It's absolutely sickening that people would subject a kid to that abuse for exercising their right to switch and in this case, to a team they've always wanted to play for.

Duffy captained the Northern Ireland U19s before switching to the Republic.

From Official Site: Everton squad: Howard, Nash, Turner, Baines, Yobo, Neville, Coleman, Senderos, Jagielka, Duffy, Arteta, Osman, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov, Gosling, Rodwell, Baxter, Donovan, Yakubu, Anichebe, Vaughan, Saha.

That's unfortunate. I always like to see young Irish players do well. Did any of you see him play?

Everton: Turner, Coleman, Bidwell, Wallace, Jagielka, Duffy, Craig, Forshaw, Vaughan, Anichebe, Baxter. Subs: Davies, Akpan, Peterlin, Nsiala, McAleny. Where is Mustafi? Is he injured? This is fantastic news for Everton. I can't wait to hear how Shane does alongside such a fantastic player.

I'm over the moon I would like to think it's the right decision. The process was in motion about 3 weeks ago. Worthington only told the press today; that's why it's only being reported today.

That isn't him and he's not in the NI squad. He was named in the squad, but he has declared for the Republic of Ireland.

The reasoning behind it, of course, being that Moyes won't want to throw Coleman in and will play someone with more experience. I'd still say that might be the team, with Heitinga and Neville swapped perhaps - in order to keep Heitinga at the back. As good as Coleman is (and I'd love for him to come in and have a stormer!), I don't think Moyes will be keen to put him in just yet. Interestingly, Distin still played the last game against Liverpool while Senderos remained on the bench, despite having a decent game against Wigan, so it would seem that Distin is the preferred choice for Moyes.

Wow, sorry about that lads!

Will any of you lads be heading to the quarter final game (not sure when it is)? Should be a good game.