Five-star Irish give King dream start

ANTHONY STOKES was on fire as he gave Noel King a debut to remember as new Republic of Ireland under-21 boss.

The Hibernian striker bagged two and had a hand in all three of the other goals in a 5-0 rout as he marked his first U21 appearance since March 2008 with a stunning display.

After replacing Don Givens — who opted not to pick Stokes after a number of disagreements — as U21 boss, King could have hardly asked for better than this first competitive win since November 2007.

King named a very strong starting 11 for his first game as U21 boss with no less than five players with senior international caps to their name.

James McCarthy, Eddie Nolan, Stephen Gleeson and Cillian Sheridan were the other capped players.

Young Watford centre-back Rob Kiernan was handed his first cap at this level and looked comfortable alongside the more experienced Eddie Nolan.

King opted to continue with the 4-3-3 formation that the U21s have utilised throughout this campaign with Stokes wide on the left and Conor Clifford to the right of striker Sheridan.

The Irish got off to as good a start as King would have craved with Stokes drilling them in front in the 15th minute. Hibs striker Stokes had time to control a deep right-wing cross by McCarthy before rifling past the visiting keeper from 12 yards out.

Stokes then turned provider in the 25th minute when his left-wing cross looked to have created a golden chance for Owen Garvan but the midfielder just failed to connect.

The Stokes show continued four minutes later when he was taken down in the penalty area by defender Marek Kaljumae for a spot-kick.

Nerves was not an issue for Stokes as he took the penalty himself and produced a Zinedine Zidane-style dink for the cheekiest of finishes to make it 2-0.

The Irish were almost caught napping two minutes into the second half when substitute Andero Pebre pounced on a loose ball in the box but shot into the side-netting.

Stokes had a great chance to complete his hat-trick in the 55th minute when he got his head to an Owen Garvan free-kick but he headed over.

Wigan midfielder McCarthy converted from six yards out on 62 minutes later after connecting with a Stokes cut-back.

Seamus Coleman made it 4-0 when he deflected home a shot by Garvan after brilliant skill by Stokes and a clever pass by Conor Hourihane.

The fifth goal came in the 91st minute when Hourihane released Stokes and he picked out Garvan, who scored to crown King’s dream debut.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Henderson; Coleman (Oyebanjo 87), Kiernan, Nolan, Gunning, Gleeson, McCarthy (Hourihane 82), Garvan, Clifford, Stokes, Sheridan (Judge 77).

ESTONIA: Meerits; Kaljumae (Jevdokimov 63), Jahhimovits, Artjunin, Teniste, Frolov (Pebre 37), Tenno, Puri, Kallaste, Dmitrijev, Alliku (Anier 68).

Referee: P Van Boekel (Holland) .