Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team

The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team, is the national under-21 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland. The team played its first match in 1978 and has competed in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship since 1988.

Republic of Ireland Under-21

Nickname(s)	Boys in Green
Association	Football Association of Ireland (FAI)
Head coach	Jim Crawford
Most caps	Conor Coventry (28)
Top scorer	Robbie Brady (7) Kevin Doyle (7)
First colours Second colours
First international
Rep. Ireland 1–1 Northern Ireland (Dublin; 8 March 1978)
Biggest win
Rep. Ireland 5–0 Estonia (Tallaght Stadium, Dublin; 10 August 2010)
Biggest defeat
Germany 8–0 Rep. Ireland (Baunatal; 23 March 1993)
Best result	Have never qualified

History

As a European under-21 team, the Republic of Ireland participates in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which takes place every two years. There is no Under-21 World Cup, although there is an Under-20 World Cup. Ireland did not enter the first five Under-21 Championships, entering for the first time in 1988 but failing to qualify. Ireland have never qualified for the European Under-21 Championships.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship record

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship record									UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Qualification record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1978	did not enter								–	–	–	–	–	–
1980									–	–	–	–	–	–
1982									–	–	–	–	–	–
1984									–	–	–	–	–	–
1986									–	–	–	–	–	–
1988	did not qualify								4	0	2	2	3	7
1990	did not enter								–	–	–	–	–	–
1992	did not qualify								6	1	0	5	5	14
1994									8	1	1	6	7	20
1996									8	2	2	4	7	9
1998									8	3	0	5	11	7
2000									8	4	2	2	13	12
2002									8	4	1	3	10	7
2004									8	2	2	4	8	11
2006									8	1	2	5	10	14
2007									2	1	0	1	2	1
2009									8	1	2	5	4	14
2011									10	1	4	5	5	11
2013									8	4	1	3	15	10
2015									8	2	2	4	10	12
2017									10	4	0	6	14	17
2019									10	4	2	4	12	15
2021									10	6	1	3	15	8
2023	Did Not Qualify								Ongoing
Total								122	37	24	61	143	176

*Draws include knockout matches decided by penalty shootout.

UEFA European Under-21 Championship

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Italy	10	7	3	0	19	5	+14	24	Final tournament		—	4–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0
2	Republic of Ireland	10	6	1	3	16	10	+6	19	Play-offs		0–2	—	1–0	3–0	3–1	2–0
3	Sweden	10	5	3	2	22	8	+14	18			1–1	0–2	—	4–0	3–1	6–0
4	Bosnia and Herzegovina	10	3	2	5	9	16	−7	11			1–2	0–2	1–1	—	2–1	1–0
5	Montenegro	10	3	2	5	14	17	−3	11			1–1	2–1	1–3	2–2	—	3–0
6	Luxembourg	10	0	1	9	2	26	−24	1			0–3	1–1	0–3	0–2	1–2	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-offs

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification play-offs

The four play-off winners qualify for the final tournament.

All times are CEST (UTC+2), as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Croatia	3–3 (5–4 p)	Denmark	2–1	1–2 (a.e.t.)
Slovakia	3–5	Ukraine	3–2	0–3
Republic of Ireland	1–1 (1–3 p)	Israel	1–1	0–0 (a.e.t.)
Iceland	1–2	Czech Republic	1–2	0–0

Results and fixtures

2021

Wales   v   Republic of Ireland

26 March 2021 Friendly	Wales	1–2	Republic of Ireland	Gresford, Wales
13:00 GMT	Adams   12'	Report	Afolabi   76' Boyes   77' (o.g.)	Stadium: Colliers Park

Switzerland   v   Republic of Ireland

30 May 2021 Friendly	Switzerland	2–0	Republic of Ireland	Marbella, Spain
12:00 EST	Stergiou   13' Barès   52'	Report		Stadium: Marbella Football Centre

Australia U23   v   Republic of Ireland

2 June 2021 Friendly	Australia U23	1–2	Republic of Ireland	Marbella, Spain
13:00 EST	Najjarine   72'	Report	Rich-Baghuelou   57' (o.g.) Tierney   90'	Stadium: Marbella Football Centre Referee: Parejo Nieto (Spain)

Denmark   v   Republic of Ireland

5 June 2021 Friendly	Denmark	1–0	Republic of Ireland	Marbella, Spain
17:00 EST	Frederiksen   30'	Report		Stadium: Marbella Football Centre

Bosnia and Herzegovina   v   Republic of Ireland

3 September 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–2	Republic of Ireland	Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina
16:30 CET		Report	Wright   52' (pen.) Coventry   73'	Stadium: FA Training Centre Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes (Norway)

Luxembourg   v   Republic of Ireland

7 September 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Luxembourg	1–1	Republic of Ireland	Dudelange, Luxembourg
16:00 CET	Kuete Nsidjine   84' (pen.)	Report	Whelan   70'	Stadium: Stade Jos Nosbaum Referee: Loukas Sotiriou (Cyprus)

Republic of Ireland   v   Luxembourg

8 October 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Republic of Ireland	2–0	Luxembourg	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
17:15 IST	Kayode   18' Coventry   64' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Referee: Besfort Kasumi (Kosovo)

Montenegro   v   Republic of Ireland

12 October 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Montenegro	2–1	Republic of Ireland	Podgorica, Montenegro
17:30 CET	Krstović   3' Vukcevic   9'	Report	McGuinness   74' Coventry   83'	Stadium: Podgorica City Stadium Referee: Barbeno Luca (San Marino)

Republic of Ireland   v   Italy

12 November 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Republic of Ireland	0–2	Italy	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
17:30 IST		Report	Lucca   31' Cancellieri   90'	Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Attendance: 2,161 Referee: Horatiu Fesnic (Romania)

Republic of Ireland   v   Sweden

16 November 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Republic of Ireland	1–0	Sweden	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
19:00 IST	O'Neill   90+3'	Report		Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Attendance: 1,535 Referee: Peter Kralović (Slovakia)

2022

Sweden   v   Republic of Ireland

29 March 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Sweden	0–2	Republic of Ireland	Borås, Sweden
16:00 CET		Report	Tierney   12' Wright   89'	Stadium: Borås Arena Referee: Vitor Ferreira (Portugal)

Republic of Ireland   v   Bosnia and Herzegovina

3 June 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Republic of Ireland	3–0	Bosnia and Herzegovina	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
19:30 IST	Smallbone   16', 81' Odubeko   63'	Report		Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Attendance: 3,057 Referee: Luca Cibelli (Switzerland)

Republic of Ireland   v   Montenegro

6 June 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Republic of Ireland	3–1	Montenegro	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
17:00 IST	Smallbone   41' Kerrigan   56' Wright   67'	Report	Ðukanović   76'	Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Attendance: 3,126 Referee: Jan Petrik (Czech Republic)

Italy   v   Republic of Ireland

14 June 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification	Italy	4–1	Republic of Ireland	Ascoli Piceno, Italy
16:30 CET	Rovella   20' (pen.) Cambiaghi   35' Pellegri   46' Quagliata   86'	Report	Coventry   62' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadio Cino e Lillo Del Duca Referee: Gergo Bogár (Hungary)

Republic of Ireland   v   Israel

23 September 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification Play-off 1st leg	Republic of Ireland	1–1	Israel	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
19:00 IST (21:00 IST)	Evan Ferguson   65'	Report	Idan Gorno   45' Stav Lemkin   80'	Stadium: Tallaght Stadium Attendance: 6,786 Referee: Dario Bel (Croatia

Israel   v   Republic of Ireland

27 September 2022 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualification Play-off 2nd leg	Israel	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–1 p)	Republic of Ireland	Tel Aviv, Israel
18:15 IST (20:15 IST)		Report		Stadium: Bloomfield Stadium Referee: Nathan Verboomen (Belgium)
	Penalties
	Eden Kartsev   Daniel Peretz   Gil Cohen   Osher Davida		Conor Coventry   Tyreik Wright   Evan Ferguson   Dawson Devoy

1–1 on aggregate. Israel won 3–1 on penalties and qualified for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

2023

Republic of Ireland   v   Iceland

26 March 2023 Friendly	Republic of Ireland	v	Iceland	Cork, Republic of Ireland
16:00 GMT				Stadium: Turners Cross

Staff

The Under-21s' management team includes:^[1]

Position	Name	Appointed
Head Coach	Jim Crawford	5 April 2020
Assistant Coach	John O'Shea	5 April 2020
Assistant Coach	Alan Reynolds	9 July 2020
Goalkeeping Coach	Rene Gilmartin	24 April 2020
Strength & Conditioning Coach	Eoin Clarkin	24 April 2020
Lead Performance Analyst	Martin Doyle	2020
Performance Analyst	Aaron Roe	2021
Sports Scientist	Adam Fox	2021
Physiotherapist	Glauber Barduzzi	24 April 2019
Sports Therapist	Conor Sheils	2020
Doctor	Dr Mortimer O'Connor	2021
Kitman	Neil Fox	2020

Players

Current squad

Players born on or after 1 January 2002 are eligible for the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

The following players were called up for the Friendly against Iceland U-21 on 29 March 2023.^[2]Caps and goals updated as of 27 September 2022, after the game vs Israel.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Tiernan Brooks	(2003-06-17) 17 June 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Notts County
	1GK	Jimmy Corcoran	(2001-02-01) 1 February 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Cork City
	1GK	Josh Keeley	(2003-05-17) 17 May 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Tottenham Hotspur
	2DF	Festy Ebosele	(2002-08-02) 2 August 2002 (age 20)	4	0	Udinese
	2DF	Tayo Adaramola	(2003-11-14) 14 November 2003 (age 19)	1	0	Coventry City
	2DF	Sean Roughan	(2003-03-14) 14 March 2003 (age 20)	1	0	Lincoln City
	2DF	Anselmo García MacNulty	(2003-02-19) 19 February 2003 (age 20)	0	0	NAC Breda
	2DF	Connor O'Riordan	(2002-06-07) 7 June 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Crewe Alexandra
	2DF	James Furlong	(2003-10-19) 19 October 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Motherwell
	3MF	Joe Hodge	(2002-09-14) 14 September 2002 (age 20)	2	0	Wolverhampton Wanderers
	3MF	Cian Hayes	(2003-06-29) 29 June 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Fleetwood Town
	3MF	Matt Healy	(2002-04-12) 12 April 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Cork City
	3MF	Bosun Lawal	(2003-05-30) 30 May 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Celtic
	3MF	Killian Phillips	(2002-03-30) 30 March 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Shrewsbury Town
	4FW	Ollie O'Neill	(2003-01-08) 8 January 2003 (age 20)	5	1	Derry City
	4FW	Andrew Moran	(2003-10-15) 15 October 2003 (age 19)	2	0	Brighton & Hove Albion
	4FW	Sinclair Armstrong	(2003-06-22) 22 June 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Queens Park Rangers
	4FW	Johnny Kenny	(2003-06-06) 6 June 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Shamrock Rovers
	4FW	Tom Cannon	(2002-12-28) 28 December 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Preston North End
	4FW	Armstrong Oko-Flex	(2002-03-02) 2 March 2002 (age 21)	0	0	West Ham United

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Republic of Ireland under-21 squad in the last 12 months and remain eligible:

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
FW	Evan Ferguson	(2004-10-19) 19 October 2004 (age 18)	10	1	Brighton & Hove Albion	v.   Israel, 27 September 2022
FW	Mipo Odubeko	(2002-10-21) 21 October 2002 (age 20)	4	1	Port Vale	v.   Israel, 27 September 2022
FW	Dara Costelloe	(2002-12-11) 11 December 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Burnley	v.   Israel, 27 September 2022
FW	Darragh Burns	(2002-08-06) 6 August 2002 (age 20)	0	0	Milton Keynes Dons	v.   Italy, 14 June 2022
^INJ Withdrew from latest squad due to injury ^WD Withdrew from latest squad ^PRE Preliminary squad / standby ^SUS Player is suspended ^COVID Withdrew from latest squad due to Covid-19 protocols Game v Republic of Ireland Amateur XI not an official game, therefore no caps given.

Note: Names in italics denote players that have been capped for the senior team.

References

1. "Management Profiles". Football Association of Ireland. 24 January 2019.
2. https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/ireland-u21s-squad-named-for-iceland-game-in-cork

External links

• U21 page on FAI website
• UEFA Under-21 website
• Full U21 results