Ireland U18

The team traces back to 1948, when a young Republic of Ireland side entered the FIFA Youth Tournament Under-18 and finished fifth in its first-round group. That competition grew into the UEFA European Under-18 Championship and later the Under-19s, wearing green shirts and white shorts under the nickname The Boys in Green.

Home fixtures are scattered rather than fixed to one ground, though the biggest nights land at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, and the squad prepares at the Football Association of Ireland's training centre in Abbotstown. Colin O'Brien now manages the side that once trained under Kerr. The fixture list still carries the old needle against Northern Ireland, a meeting sharpened by the Centenary Shield the two associations play for.

Since 1998 the trophy cabinet at this level has stayed shut. Squads have kept producing senior internationals, and friendlies against sides like Belgium, Japan and Croatia test where the next crop stands, but a second European under-18 title has not followed the first.