Stokes: Eoghan

2012-Current (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Striker

Born: Leixlip, County Kildare, Republic of Ireland: 17-05-1996

Debut: Newport County (h): 22-08-2017

5'8" 11st 3lb (2016)

Stokes was spotted by Leeds United playing for St Kevins Boys in Dublin, and they signed him in July 2012 and he then graduated through their academy. He started with their Under-Eighteens and in 2012-13 hescored six times in seven starts and eight games from the bench and also made one substitute appearance for the Under-Twenty-One team. His progress continued in 2013-14 with twelve goals from sixteen starts for the Under-Eighteens and two starts and one game from the bench with the Under-Twenty-Ones. 2014-15 saw him solely in the Under-Twenty-Ones and he scored twice in nine starts and four games from the bench. In 2015-16 he scored eight goals from eighteen starts and five as a substitute. In 2016-17, the Under-Twenty-Ones became the Under-Twenty-Threes Professional Development team and he netted eight goals in twenty-three starts and one as a substitute. 2017-18 saw him start to lose his place as competition grew and he scored twice in eight starts and two games as a substitute, however he did feature in pre-season friendlies and made his debut for the first team, on 22nd August 2017 in a 5-1 win over Newport County in the League Cup. As Leeds were bringing in more and more young strikers for the Under-Twenty-Three team, Stokes was linked with both Dundalk and Cork City, but decided to sign a one year contract at Leeds. At the end of the January 2018 window Leeds and Stokes mutually agreed to cancel that contract. On 15th February 2018 Bohemians competed a deal to sign the former Leeds United striker. He agreed a deal to move to Dalymount Park and went straight into the matchday squad that Friday’s Dublin derby against Shamrock Rovers, the team that he seemed to be close to joining earlier in the window when he was on trial with them. He was on the winning team on his debut as Bohemians won 3–1, on16th February 2018, the opening night of the 2018 season, as he came off the substitutes bench to replace Kevin Devaney after sixty-three minutes. On 24th February 2018, Stokes scored his first goal for Bohemians in a 1-1 draw against Limerick when he equalised in the final minute. His second came in the twenty-eighth minute when he opened the scoring in a 2-2 home draw at home to Sligo Rovers on 16th March 2018. His third goal was in the seventy- seventh minute of a 3-1 win at Bray Wanderers when he scored the final goal of the game after replacing Daniel Grant, after sixty-nine minutes. His fourth and fifth came in consecutive matches as on 3rd August 2018, he got the fifth goal four minutes from time in a 5-0 home win over Limerick FC, after coming on as a seventy-fifth minute replacement for Keith Ward, and then on 17th August 2018, he scored the only goal of the game as Shamrock Rovers were beaten on their own ground at Tallaght Park, four minutes after replacing Kevin Devaney in the sixty-fourth minute. He had started sixteen, been a substituted in eleven and sat unused three times on the bench. Stokes had started his International career with the Under-Sixteens when he was called up for a friendly in Estonia on 27th September 2011, while still at St Kevin's, and he scored in the seventy-sixth minute to add the third goal in a 3-0 win over Latvia in Voru, two days later he sat unused in a 0-0 draw with hosts Estonia. His second cap came on 19th January 2012, when the Republic of Ireland Under-Sixteens were made battle for a draw against Portugal at the Estadio Municipal da Nazare near Lisbon. He made his Republic of Ireland Under-Seventeen debut in the UEFA Under- Seventeen Championships Qualifying Round Group 10 in a 1-1 draw with Sweden in Kumanovo, FYR Macedonia on 29th September 2012 but gave way to Cory Galvin after seventy-six minutes. This was followed by an impressive 4-1 victory over the hosts, FYR Macedonia, in the second game of their UEFA Championships qualifying group in Skopje on 2nd October 2012. It was Stokes that was brought down in the twenty-second minute by goalkeeper Nikola Aleksovski that led to Ireland taking the lead from the ensuing penalty. He was replaced by Cory Galvin after sixty-one minutes. They qualified for the next stage on 4th October 2012, when they defeated Romania 2-0 in Skopje and finished joint top of Group Ten. Stokes came on as a forty-eighth minute substitute when he replaced Stephen Confrey. He did not play in either of the next two friendlies against Croatia, in a 1-2 defeat on 27th February 2013 and a 0-3 defeat the following day. However, he did play full games in the first two UEFA Under- Seventeen qualifiers in Austria. On 25th March 2013, it was Stokes that gave a perfectly weighted through ball to Reece Grego- Cox to slot the ball into the bottom corner of the net to give Ireland the lead. Just on half-time it was also he that beat two men only to see his shot roll just outside the helpless keeper’s post at the Rudolf Tonn Stadion, Sportzentrum Rannersdorf, Schwechat. Two days later, they suffered a disappointing 0-3 defeat to Georgia in the UEFA Championships Elite Qualifying Round at WFV Hirschstetten in Vienna. On 30th March 2013 the team unfortunately exited the UEFA Championships after being held to a 1-1 draw by Serbia in their final Group Two match at WFV Hirschstetten, Vienna, in a game that Stokes was replaced by Reece Grego-Cox in the fifty-fourth minute. He started six times fror the Under-Seventeens. He became an important member of the 2014-15 Republic of Ireland Under-Nineteen team. His debut came on 8th September 2014 in a Friendly in a 1-0 win over the Netherlands at Tallaght Park, Dublin, when he played a full game and got the only goal from the penalty spot after twenty-five minutes. On 8th October 2014, he came off the bench for his second cap when he replaced Reece Grego-Cox in the seventy-first minute of a 1-0 win over Sweden in Sollentunavallen and two days later, in Vasavallen, they held their hosts to a 2-2 draw, after Stokes had opened the scoring in the eighth minute, to take his goals to two. His next three caps were all in Group Six of the UEFA EURO Under-Nineteen Championship Qualifiers. On 13th November 2014, he scored the only goal, in the seventeenth minute, as he played a full game at the Waterford RSC against Malta.Two days later he found the net twice in the same competition as he started in a 4-1 win over Gibraltar at Ferrycarrig Park, Wexford, scoring the second goal after thirty-two minutes and the fourth after sixty-eight minutes, before going off immediately after his second goal to be replaced by Ryan Manning. He did not score after that but three days later he played seventy-four minutes before being replaced by Connor Dimaio in a 1-1 draw with Switzerland at the Waterford RSC. He then twice played in Friendlies against Azerbaijan on 25th February 2015, which he started, but was replaced by Ryan Manning after sixty-three minutes in a 6-0 win at Tallaght Stadium and then two days later he came on as a substitute when he replaced Val Feeney at the same venue. He took his caps to ten as he started in two group A2 UEFA EURO Under-Nineteen Championship Qualifiers, the first, on 26th March 2015, in a 0-1 defeat by the Czech Republic at the Carl Benz Stadion in Manheim, Germany, in which he started but was replaced after sixty-seven minutes by Jack Hallahan and then two days later, at the BWT Stadion am Hardtwald in Sandhausen, Germany, he came off the bench to replace Jamie McGrath with thirteen minutes left on the clock as they went down 2-3 to Germany. Three days later he did not leave the bench as the Slovakia Republic held the Republic to a 2-2 draw at the Carl Benz Stadion in Manheim, Germany.