'It's a chance to make history' - Ireland under-21 Darragh Leahy eyes historic qualification

Darragh Leahy, fresh from securing a Europa League group stage spot with Dundalk, is treating next week’s under-21 European Championship qualifier against Italy as another golden opportunity.

 “It’s a chance to make history”, Leahy said while speaking to the media ahead of the game next Tuesday. 

“I don't think an under-21 Irish side has ever qualified... Going to a finals, an under-21 championship finals, is going to be unbelievable.”

A lot has changed since Ireland stepped onto the pitch in Tallaght last November to face Sweden in their last competitive outing. 

Stephen Kenny was on the touchline. Jayson Molumby and Adam Idah were in the starting XI. 

The aforementioned – along with other high-profile departures from the under-21 setup – won’t be making the trip to Italy in the coming days. 

Yet despite this, Leahy is adamant that their loss won’t have a bearing on the remainder of the qualifying campaign. 

“Look, there’s other players in other positions that are playing in the Premier League, so I don’t think that there’ll be too much of a difference.”

Jim Crawford’s inheritance of the under-21 job won’t herald change, either. Quite the opposite, in fact, according to Leahy: “I don't see why we would change the philosophy when we're top of our group and it's been working so well. 

“I think it'd be a bit silly to change it when there are only three games left.



“Jim obviously has his own ideas which, maybe different, but all in all it's quite similar.”

After a training camp in Belfast last month, Leahy feels the team are ready for the threat the Italians will pose. 

“Like all Italian teams, they like to express themselves”, he says. 

“We've obviously been doing our homework on them, we know their strengths and weaknesses, so we're going to be confident enough going over there and putting in a performance.”

Leahy’s call-up to Crawford’s panel has capped off a “whirlwind” number of weeks for the former Bohemians man.

Filippo Giovagnoli’s impact at his club side has given the Lilywhites the belief that they can get results when the group stages kick off in a couple of weeks’ time. 



“Two new lads came in and – no disrespect – no one knew who they were or where they came from, [they] had little experience.

“They've obviously done unbelievably well, we've qualified for the group stages and all the boys have bought into what they've been doing. I think a lot of people are going to respect them more”, he adds. 

Dundalk will face Molde of Norway at the Aviva at the end of the month. Leahy isn’t content with sitting back when gameday rolls around: “I don't think we could have asked for a better group.

“Obviously, Arsenal are a massive team, and no disrespect to the other two teams, we've got to look at them and be confident that we can get some results against them.”