Ireland's u15 manager Vinny Butler gets his first chance to have a look at his new squad when he brings them to Derry to take part in the Fila Foyle u16 cup, which starts today. The Foyle Cup has expanded over the last number of years and this year's tournament is the best yet.

Ireland are one of 16 teams taking part in the u16 cup. They start with a game against the North East Counties League today and follow that up with a match against Oldham the Thursday afternoon. They finish Group 3 on Thursday evening with a game against the Derry & District League.

Vinny Butler has made to changes to his squad. He has called up Home Farm's David Cassidy and Kingdom Boys' Stephen O'Mahony to replace Belvedere's Gary Mulligan (injured) and St. Joseph's Boys' Patrick Flynn, who is on a family holiday.

The u12 and u14 cups look very competitive. Bohemians and Tolka Rovers look to have a very hard task at u12 level with the likes of Celtic, Manchester United, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest and Aberdeen all taking part.

The u14 Cup has the biggest entry off the three cups, with 24 teams taking part. Bohemians also send a team for this cup but reigning champions Manchester City are confident of retaining the crown.

Barry Pointyn of Manchester City said: "We are returning to defend the trophy this year and are very confident that we will do this. We had a good side last year, worthy winners of the Fila Foyle Cup. This year's team we believe has even more potential."