IRELAND U21 INTERNATIONAL Joe Hodge made his Premier League debut today.

The midfielder came off the bench at half-time with Wolves 1-0 down against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, an ex-Ireland U21 player yet to make his Premier League debut, Connor Ronan, is on the bench for the visitors.

Irish international Nathan Collins would ordinarily be playing but is suspended for today’s clash.

Hodge was recently in action as Ireland U21s suffered an agonising penalty shootout defeat in their Euros playoff against Israel.

After the first leg of that game, Hodge spoke to reporters of his frustrating time with injuries that led to a period of around three years where he was unavailable for international duty.

A consistently impressive player for Ireland at underage level, Hodge originally was on the books at Man City and had a loan spell in the League of Ireland with Derry that was cut short due to injury.

In August last year, he joined Wolves and has had to be patient with a couple of appearances on the bench already this season.

The Premier League club are currently without a permanent coach after Bruno Lage’s recent departure, and so it remains to be seen whether he can impress the yet-to-be-confirmed new manager and stay in the team long term.