CORK CITY PAIR Kevin O’Connor and Sean Maguire have been named in Noel King’s squad for the European U21 Championship qualifier against Serbia next Friday.
Defender Sean Hoare of St Patrick’s Athletic competes the domestic trio, with Walsall’s Liam Kinsella, son of former international Mark, and Shaun Donnellan of West Brom celebrating their first call-ups.
Consequently, the FAI announced earlier today that Cork’s Premier Division clash against Galway has been pushed back by 24 hours to Saturday 8 October, with Dundalk’s game against Sligo Rovers also moved to the same night.
Goalkeeper Danny Rogers who was called up to the senior squad for the World Cup double header against Georgia and Moldova is omitted, with Man City’s Ian Lawlor competing with Liam Bossin of Anderlecht to start the game.
Ireland currently sit in fourth place in Group 2 with hopes of qualifying already evaporated when they take on Serbia in the RSC in Waterford.
However, King is hopeful that with 10 of the players included in today’s squad still eligible for the next campaign, the game could provide invaluable experience as they aim to avenge the 3-2 loss suffered earlier this month.
“In our last two games we’ve played very well, beating Slovenia in Waterford was a great win and performance, then we went away to Serbia and produced another very good performance without getting the result we wanted,” King said .
“We felt that we should have got a result against a very good team who are World Champions at U20 level. We’ll look to repeat the performance and hopefully get a result at home, which would help improve the rankings considerably.”
“There’s quite a few of these players who’ll be eligible for the next campaign as well. The likes of Josh Cullen, Jack Byrne, Jake Mulraney and Olamide Shodipo have had some experience at this level now. Bringing in some of the new players gives them a chance to have a crack at this level.”
Ireland U21 squad to take on Serbia at the RSC:
Goalkeepers
Liam Bossin (RSC Anderlecht)
Ian Lawlor (Man City)
Defenders
Thomas Hoban (Watford – on loan at Blackburn)
Eoghan O’Connell (Celtic)
Sean Hoare (St Patrick’s Athletic)
Kevin O’Connor (Cork City)
Liam Kinsella (Walsall)
Sean Kavanagh (Fulham)
Shaun Donnellan (WBA)
Midfielders
Darragh Lenihan (Blackburn Rovers)
Alan Browne (Preston North End)
Josh Cullen (West Ham – on loan at Bradford)
Connor Dimaio (Chesterfield)
Jack Byrne (Man City – on loan at Blackburn)
Harry Charsley (Everton)
Olamide Shodipo (QPR)
Jake Mulraney (Inverness Caley Thistle)
Forwards
Courtney Duffus (Everton)
Sean Maguire (Cork City)
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