Ireland manager Mick McCarthy was impressed with what he saw in person from former Cork City man Kieran Sadlier over the weekend.
McCarthy was present as Sadlier scored one and set up another in Doncaster's 2-0 win against Peterborough on Saturday.
"I’ll name the squad for Georgia and Switzerland on Tuesday week and I wanted to have a look at Kieran for myself,” McCarthy told the FAI website.
"Terry Connor had heard good things about him from the Doncaster coaching staff and our scouts had seen him but I wanted to have a look at him with my own two eyes. I know all about the other options available to us so this trip to Doncaster made sense.
"Kieran played well. He’s been operating on the right side of late having started the season as a centre-forward and he took his goal well."
McCarthy was also glad to see Sean Maguire back among the goals over the weekend. The 25-year-old grabbed the winner, his third goal of the season, as Preston beat Birmingham 1-0.
With Enda Stevens suspended for the Euro 2020 qualifier away to Georgia next month, McCarthy and assistant Terry Connor are assessing their left-back options. Connor watched Greg Cunningham as his Blackburn side beat Reading 2-1 and McCarthy has seen Ryan Manning play there for QPR. They have also had a scout watch James McClean play at left-back for Stoke.
The Ireland management team are also keeping tabs on young players Aaron Connolly and Troy Parrott.
"Aaron was the one who really caught the eye with the 21s against Armenia," said McCarthy.
"He is getting game time in the Premier League now with Brighton which will really benefit him and us and he was unlucky not to score at Newcastle.
"We are talking to Spurs and Terry will watch Troy this week in the Under 23 game at Blackburn on Monday or the Football League Cup match against Colchester on Tuesday night if he is involved in that one."
— Aaron Connolly (@AaronConnolly_9) September 21, 2019
Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
