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Published 10:32 7 Jan 2020 GMT
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"Have they got a qualifier tomorrow? Then why on earth would I call them in? I just think that would be wrong of me. The 21s want to qualify for a competition... I'm not sure that if I play them in a friendly against Bulgaria, it will tell me that they can compete in a game against Georgia away or Switzerland away or Denmark at home."It transpired that Connolly's emergence for Brighton made it impossible for McCarthy to call the young Irishman up, and he featured off the bench against Georgia before starting against Switzerland a few days later. But McCarthy has always made it clear that game time, at any level, is the most important thing to him. Speaking back in July about James McCarthy and a potential move to Crystal Palace, the Irish manager was unequivocal in what he valued;
“I’d like to see him playing in September... it doesn’t matter, he can go and sign for whoever he wants. He can sign for Oxford and if he’s in the team he has a better chance than if he’s on the bench at Crystal Palace."The clamour for the inclusion of the likes of Parrott, Connolly, Obafemi and Idah are understandable considering the lack of goals and even threat in the current Irish Senior team. Ireland's primary threat seems to be Shane Duffy, which sums up the striking problem in McCarthy's team. But one man who needs to be involved, partifcularly considering today's developments for Whelan, is Jayson Molumby. https://twitter.com/BHAFC_Vines/status/1211478298074796033 On loan from Brighton to Millwall in the Championship, Molumby has been a mainstay in their midfield all season. 18 appearances, 17 from the start, as the London club sit just one point outside the playoff places. He has been a commanding influence in the centre of the park for both club and country, and offers a genuine threat going forward. He has a passing accuracy of 86.4%, the second-highest of any u21 player in the league, and has drawn praise from McCarthy in the past, notably after the u21's win over Armenia in September;
"I was extremely impressed, certainly by Connolly – I thought he was the pick of the bunch, Molumby as well... But certainly Connolly, he was the one that caught the eye. Connolly and Molumby, I thought, were excellent."He has the game time, the question is whether McCarthy is willing to affect the u21's crunch qualifier against Iceland fixed for the same day as the Senior team's playoff semi-final against Slovakia. Mick is running out of excuses to parachute a player like Molumby in for Ireland's make-or-break game in March.
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