Togetherness in squad can take Ireland a long way in Regions Cup qualifiers says MFA's Barry Cotter

Cork players dominate the Irish representative team that that will travel to Switzerland on Saturday for the Uefa Regions Cup qualifiers.

Jason Purcell’s 18-man squad comprises nine Munster Senior League players, with two more on standby.

The format for determining who will represent Ireland in the Regions Cup changed for the latest renewal; previously, combined teams from the four provinces would play a one-off game with the winners getting to don the green jersey, but this year an inter-provincial tournament was held in Sligo in March, with Munster winning all three games to earn the right to represent their country in Switzerland.

It also means that most of the organising fell on the desk of Munster Football Association administrator Barry Cotter, adding more work for the already busy MFA’s full-time officer.

“Support still came from the FAI, but once we qualified in Sligo, all of the organising was handled by ourselves, so I’ve been organising buses, hotels, and flights and sorting the itinerary for next week,” Cotter explained.

It’s the third major operation this year on that front for Cotter, following on from the trip to Sligo and the squad’s recent weekend in Reading where they played two friendly games against Reading’s U21 team and Watford’s U23 team.

“It was two games against top quality opposition — the Watford team had four first-team players who were working their way back from injury. We lost both games 2-1, but the lads did very well.”

Since their return from Reading, Munster have played several high-profile friendly games, and preparations were completed with a final training session at Turner’s Cross at the weekend before they will jet out on Saturday morning, with the first of three games taking place on Monday.

“All the games will take place at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon; we have Georgia in our first game on Monday, and on Thursday we will play Northern Ireland with the final game against the hosts on Sunday before flying home on Monday.”

Ireland have a good record in this competition, having won it once and reached the final on two other occasions, making them one of the most successful teams at that level.

“We will probably be going into the qualifiers as the top-ranked team, but that ranking is based on previous squads when there was a bigger pick of players.

“With the new format, only players from the representing province can be chosen, so we might be a small bit behind on this occasion, but while the pick might be smaller, the togetherness and camaraderie have been brilliant and that will make up for it.”

Funding is an important component for an operation like this, but Cotter says they are in a good place on that front.

“There have been huge costs since we started out earlier this year, but we have had the majority of funding from the FAI and I would like to thank Ger McDermott for his support with that. There will be money coming from Uefa for participating, while our own association will also be chipping in.

“We’ve also had a lot of sponsorship; the management team ran a last man standing, and we’ve had generous sponsorship from IIS and John Naughton, with the MSL, the AUL, and Mayfield United also helping and we appreciate all the support.

“Grandon’s have made a van available for transporting the gear and equipment, and Tadgh (O’Neill) will be travelling to Switzerland by Ferry with that.”

For Cotter, putting the final touches on next week’s trip has dovetailed with other Uefa-related matters, with the visit of Norway for last Friday’s U21 European Championship qualifier. Indeed, all bar one of Ireland’s home qualifiers have been played at The Cross and should Jim Crawford’s team earn a play-off spot following their final group game away to Italy, Ireland will be back in the Cross again.

Maintaining the pitch to international standards has been paramount and that was there to be seen in Friday’s draw with Norway.

A lot of work has been put into the pitch since its enforced closure after severe damage earlier in the year, and it underwent a major — and costly — makeover.

“The pitch is fabulous now, and we have a few more games on it before it closes in mid-November.

“Cork City will play their final game of the season, against Wexford, while City’s U15s will play the final of the Michael Hayes Cup on Sunday.

“There will be one or two more things going on, including, potentially, an U21 play-off for the Irish team.”