For all of the troubles surrounding the Republic of Ireland team at the moment, it is undeniable that there is some very bright young talent coming through.
The likes of Dara O'Shea, Jason Knight, and Aaron Connolly have established themselves as key players in the side over the last number of months. They are also far from the only players emerging at the minute.
There are some excellent youngsters currently playing their trade in the Irish underage setup, with Andrew Omobamidele chief amongst them.
The 18-year old centre back made his debut for the Ireland U21s last week, starting at centre back as Jim Crawford's side secured a 2-1 friendly victory against Wales.
A highly rated prospect, the Leixlip native has been tipped for a first team breakthrough at Norwich City for some time now. He got his opportunity this afternoon and certainly didn't disappoint.
Omobamidele started the club's Championship fixture away at Preston, putting in an excellent performance as his side were held to a late 1-1 draw.
The player had a total of one minute of first team football in his career up to this point, but looks like a massive prospect for the club after putting in a brilliant showing on his full debut. He made a number of key defensive interventions, including this heroic block at point blank range.
Before the Emi Buendia worldie what a block from Andrew Omobamidele💪 #ncfc pic.twitter.com/nLt0G1dJYe
— Canary Cast (@CastCanary) April 2, 2021
Norwich City supporters certainly enjoyed seeing his performance judging by social media.
Andrew Omobamidele #ncfc pic.twitter.com/BXICsk69gO
— Callum (@postedbycallum) April 2, 2021
Andrew Omobamidele doesn't look like an 18-year-old making his senior debut so far.
He looks confident, composed and effective on the ball. As has been tweeted by others, it was a sublime piece of defending to block that effort on the line.
Well done that man. #NCFC— Connor Southwell (@cjsouthwell1902) April 2, 2021
There’s a touch of Ben Godfrey about Omobamidele. Particularly his posture and body language.
— Craig Daniels (@craigdaniels82) April 2, 2021
Omobamidele has been excellent, good blocks, calm and looks comfortable, so far, on a really testing full #NCFC debut. PNE chucked the ball in the box plenty early on, Mumba showing his attacking urgency from full-back again too @paulhc64 @FocusImagesLtd https://t.co/CVIYQFRUWm pic.twitter.com/2BKJnPiNUW
— David Freezer (@davefreezer) April 2, 2021
Unfortunately for the youngster, he was unable to stop Preston scoring a stoppage time equaliser as he attempted to block the last strike from Brad Potts.
Despite this, he would be named man-of-the-match for his efforts.
Making his debut at the age of 18 and fully deserving of today's Man of the Match award. 👏 pic.twitter.com/VdIh8Acp6y
— Norwich City FC (@NorwichCityFC) April 2, 2021
Omobamidele played his youth football with Leixlip United, before joining Norwich's youth structure in 2019.
He is set to play a key part in the upcoming Euro qualifying campaign with the Ireland U21 side which kicks off with a fixture away to Italy on June 14th.
Before then, he will be hoping to play a part on Norwich's promotion push. They currently hold a massive 15 point lead over third-placed Swansea City with six fixtures left, although the Welsh side do have a couple of games in hand.
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