Bayern rising star with Mullingar links called up Ireland

Bayern Munich's rising star Ryan Johansson, whose mother hails from Westmeath, has been included in the Ireland U19 squad for its upcoming matches later this month.

The young midfielder (17), who played for the Bayern first team on its recent summer tour to the US, has been named in Tom Mohan's upcoming squad for their back to back encounters against Wales in Longford on September 9 and Galway on September 11.

Johansson, whose father is from Sweden and mother Christine McCarthy is from Mullingar, has already represented the Scandanavian country and Luxembourg (where his family lives) at underage level.

He moved to Bayern a little over a year ago and has already made his mark, the club's U19 head coach Sebastian Hoeness recently told the sport news website the42.ie.

“He has good technical qualities because he played offensively for a long time so he has a good technique for a central midfielder or defender. He’s big and strong and has a good technical understanding. He’s full of ambition... He also played as a right-back for the first team in their recent friendlies in the USA. He’s intelligent and tactically very capable.”