Portsmouth make decision for trio to return to Northern Ireland after coronavirus shutdown

Second-year scholar Eoin Teggart, Harry Anderson and Gerard Storey – both first-year scholars – are all back in Northern Ireland.

Mark Kelly and his staff decided to send the three to their homeland to be around their families on Tuesday amid borders potentially closing over the pandemic.

Pompey’s youth boss pinpointed there’s more flexibility not having those around unlike first-team players if football were to again begin on April 3.

They’ll now undertake their fitness programmes assigned by the Blues in Ulster.

Kelly said: ‘They went home on Tuesday night and we’ll schedule their return between this and that.

‘It comes back to the point of whether borders are shut off, so we’ll just have to manage it.

‘Being the younger group and in development football, it’s more important for the lads being with their families and in the right place at the right time.

‘It’s more about us managing those situations and it’s fine. It’s different to a first-team environment where if the season kicks-off again in three weeks’ time then they need to be in.

‘It’s different for them three. We can manage that and it would be a matter of planning that all in.’

Teggart arrived for an undisclosed fee from Cliftonville in the summer of 2018.

The winger made his first-team debut in a 3-1 Leasing.com Trophy victory against Norwich under-21s in September.

Striker Anderson and Storey, a midfielder, penned two-year scholarships at Fratton Park at the beginning of the campaign having joined from Portadown.

All three are Northern Ireland youth internationals.