When the Republic of Ireland U21s line out against Slovakia on Friday in Euro qualifying, pressure will mean very little to Carrigaline\u2019s Mark O\u2019Mahony.<\/p>\n
The forward is in a stacked squad that includes Tottenham Hotspur bound Mason Melia, a name that is attracting a considerable amount of attention over his run of form with St Patrick\u2019s Athletic.<\/p>\n
Michael Noonan is also in the group, during a season that involves fight for a league and cup double with Shamrock Rovers.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mahony is not worried about any comparisons with his striker partners as he gets ready to come home.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot so much to be honest \u2013 I don\u2019t really look into social media and all of that too much if I am being honest,\u201d he told The Echo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think having all the best players from all over the country at the one age group in the one team can only be a positive thing and I think with me, Mason, and Michael there is good competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Competition gets the most out of players. In terms of headlines, stuff like that doesn\u2019t bother me.<\/p>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4812933_6_articleinlinemobile_2962979.jpg\" "\\"Mark")
Mark O’Mahony of Republic of Ireland prepares to come on as a substitute during the UEFA European U21 Championship qualifier match between Italy and Republic of Ireland at Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste, Italy. Photo by Igor Kupljenik\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
\u201cI go out onto the pitch the same, regardless if there is stuff in the headlines or there is not. I think having the three of us here is really good competition and I think it only makes us better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mahony is also going into this international window with a point to prove after an injury laden run that stopped the striker from having a prolonged period in the team.<\/p>\n
The striker isn\u2019t looking at this as an opportunity to put the last few months behind him, as the focus is scoring goals with the U21s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think, as I said a while ago, you want to always be scoring goals as a striker,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m able to go to Turner\u2019s Cross and help the team win. Whether that is scoring goals or not. It\u2019s my job in the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of a point to prove, I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t really see it like that. In my head I want to help the team out as much as I can and hopefully that is scoring goals in front of a Cork crowd.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mahony goes into this camp at the start of a yearlong loan spell at Reading in League One.<\/p>\n
The striker is learning under former Ireland international Noel Hunt and he is tasked with learning his trade in one of the most gruelling environments in football that involves four different competitions stretched across nine months.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Mahony recently got his first goal for the club, during a 3-1 victory over West Ham in the EFL Trophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been good \u2013 it was a tougher start to the season that I would have wanted but that is all part of going out on loan and getting those experiences,\u201d he talked about the start of his season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just happy that I have been playing a lot this year and the club has been very good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Republic of Ireland U21s line out against Slovakia on Friday in Euro qualifying, pressure will mean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[2211,18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-112635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cork-soccer","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}