Troy Parrott made his senior international debut last night and it was difficult not to be impressed by the youngster. Despite being only 17-years old, he was excellent against New Zealand.
His movement was exceptional and he certainly didn't shirk the challenge of coming up against much older opponents. While he was withdrawn around the hour mark, that was not indicative of a poor showing. In fact, Brian Kerr believes Mick McCarthy may have taken the player off with an eye on Monday's game against Denmark.
Speaking on Virgin Media Sport, he said that he liked what he saw from the Spurs youngster.
Will Troy Parrott & Jack Byrne feature on Monday?
Brian Kerr & Niall Quinn look at their performances last night, and debate whether they've played themselves into Monday's team.#COYBIG #VMSport pic.twitter.com/9qfVVHf6FV— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) November 15, 2019
There's only going to be one centre forward. It might be one and one, with a number ten. I think McGoldrick will be in that centre forward position.
I don't think Collins, Hogan, Maguire or Robinson have done enough tonight to get another start against a team like Denmark.
Parrott played tonight. Mick, I sense, was a bit frustrated with all the talk about him. I thought he did very well. He was energetic, got around the pitch, good runs. His control and availability was very good.
Jack Byrne also impressed, especially in the first half.
While neither player is likely to start against Denmark, they may have moved well up the pecking order when it comes to getting playing time off the bench.
Jack Byrne was Ireland's best player for the first 20 minutes of the match. He was everywhere, getting onto the ball, picking it up and trying to make things happen...
On 62 minutes Parrott and Byrne are substituted, which could be an indication that Mick was happy with them and wants to think about it.
I'd say Mick is thinking 'I might give them a go in the match'. I don't think he will start Jack Byrne, he certainly won't start Parrott, but I think both of them did enough tonight to make Mick think 'if I need a bit of something different in the match, I could put them on'.
That's how I would read it, I could be wrong.
