The Ireland Men\u2019s Under-21 squad has been announced for upcoming friendlies against Croatia and Qatar in Zagreb this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Head Coach Jim Crawford has handed eight players their first call-ups to a youthful Under-21s squad with senior international cap Rory Finneran named in the travelling 23.<\/p>\n
Dundalk\u2019s Gbemi Arubi has been rewarded for his League of Ireland Premier Division form with a place in the squad, his first call-up since representing Ireland at Men\u2019s Under-19s level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cork City\u2019s 16-year-old striker Cillian Murphy is among those heading to Zagreb having helped the Ireland Men\u2019s Under-17s reach the World Cup in Qatar with a hat-trick against Slovakia.<\/p>\n
There are also first call-ups for Shamrock Rovers pair John O\u2019Sullivan and Naj Razi who will be part of their first Under-21s squad.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burnley\u2019s Kian McMahon-Brown, who has impressed for both club and country this season, also gets the call as does Brighton & Hove Albion\u2019s Sean Keogh and Stoke City\u2019s Gabriel Kelly.<\/p>\n
Doncaster Rovers\u2019 Sean Grehan and Bohemians\u2019 Harry Vaughan return to the squad having missed out in March.<\/p>\n
Ireland face Croatia on Saturday, June 6 before taking on Qatar Under-23s on Tuesday, June 9.<\/p>\n
It will be the final preparation for Jim Crawford\u2019s side before the final run-in of the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier campaign.<\/p>\n
Ireland Men\u2019s Under-21s Squad<\/p>\n
Goalkeepers: Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois), Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Walsh (Shelbourne).<\/p>\n
Defenders: Sam Curtis (Sheffield United), Oisin Gallagher (Lincoln City), Sean Grehan (Doncaster Rovers), Sean Keogh (Brighton & Hove Albion), Conor McManus (Brentford), Cory O\u2019Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers), David Okagbue (Peterborough United).<\/p>\n
Midfielders: Jacob Devaney (Manchester United), Rory Finneran (Newcastle United), Gabriel Kelly (Stoke City), Darius Lipsiuc (Stoke City), Jamie Mullins (Wycombe Wanderers), Cillian Murphy (Cork City), John O\u2019Sullivan (Shamrock Rovers), Naj Razi (Shamrock Rovers), Harry Vaughan (Bohemians, on loan from Hull City).<\/p>\n
Forwards: Gbemi Arubi (Dundalk), Tommy Lonergan (Waterford), Kian McMahon Brown (Burnley), Michael Noonan (Shamrock Rovers).<\/p>\n
International Friendly Fixtures (kick-offs are Irish time)<\/p>\n
Saturday, June 6 | Croatia U21 vs Ireland U21, Gradski Stadion, Vrbovec, Zagreb, KO 16.30<\/p>\n
Tuesday, June 9 | Ireland U21 vs Qatar U23, Gradski Stadion, Vrbovec, Zagreb, KO 15.45 <\/p>\n
Sport on WLR is brought to you by Auto Boland Ford.<\/a><\/p>\n For the latest Waterford News<\/a> and Sport<\/a>, tune into WLR News on the hour and download the WLR App for news on demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ireland Men\u2019s Under-21 squad has been announced for upcoming friendlies against Croatia and Qatar in Zagreb this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-477442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}