England U21 manager Lee Carsley ‘really proud’ of Cork and Irish heritage 

England U21 manager Lee Carsley is proud of his Cork and Irish heritage as he gets his team ready to face the Republic of Ireland at the Munster FA Turner’s Cross Stadium this evening in a Euro 2027 qualifying game.

The Birmingham born coach even wore the green jersey during his playing career – declaring through his grandmother Jo Cambridge (née Wiseman) from Coach Road near Dunmanway.

Carsley is now firmly with the England setup after guiding their U21s to successive European Championship titles, while managing their seniors in the 2024 edition of the UEFA Nations League.

No matter where the game has taken him, Carsley has remained proud of his Cork heritage.

“I spoke about it a while back - I was at a family reunion maybe two years ago in the city and it's brilliant to come back,” he told The Echo.

“I'm really proud of my heritage, the fact that I represented the Republic of Ireland and now I'm the head coach for England and I've managed the senior team also. 

"It's something that I'm proud of.” 

The coach is bringing his England team to Turner’s Cross to face an Irish side that have to win to secure a play-off spot for Euro 2027.

Carsley and his players have already booked their place at next year’s showpiece event in Serbia and Albania, they did so by drawing 0-0 with Slovakia last Friday.

They now have a chance to win their third consecutive Euros. 

Before they think about the tournament finals, there’s the game with Ireland and the coach is leaving nothing to chance.

“Qualifying from the group was the priority before we started out in the campaign regardless of the fact that we've won it two times on the trot,” he explained.

“Qualification, as you'll have seen, is very difficult, so the fact that we've qualified with a game to go, there's a lot of positives. 

"We've had some real tests throughout the campaign in terms of the travel, in terms of Kazakhstan, Moldova. 

"The travel situation with Andorra, it's very difficult to get to, so that's all a test for a young squad that we've got.

“They seem to have responded and stood up to all of the tests that have been thrown at them, so we expect another really good game tomorrow night.

“It's good that there's something on the game. We're definitely going into it highly motivated. 

"There is no thoughts in my mind that we'd make wholesale changes or send people home. 

"We're approaching this game like we have to win it, so it's a game that we're really looking forward to.

“We had a really tough game at St Andrews, the 2-0, but it was 1-0 for a large part of that game. 

"The rain was pouring down and it was a very close game and we expect something similar tonight.”