Irish call-up for Villa young gun Williams

Republic of Ireland U21 team manager Noel King has added Aston Villa’s Derrick Williams to his squad for the forthcoming UEFA Championships qualifiers against Hungary and Italy.

The Irish meet Hungary in Kecskemét tomorrow before travelling to the south of Italy to meet the Italians in Casarano on Monday.

Williams, 19, has been on the bench for Villa recently and is the latest member of the Irish U19 side that reached the UEFA Championships semi-finals last year to progress to U21 level. Wolves winger Anthony Forde was drafted over the weekend while Jeff Hendrick (Derby) Sean Murray (Watford), Samir Carruthers (Aston Villa), John Egan (Sunderland) and Aaron McCarey (Wolves) were also in the same U19 squad last year.

King’s charges can still claim second place in Group Seven with a victory in both those games. Ireland beat Hungary 2-1 in Sligo last August in their opening game of the campaign.

James Collins, Conor Clifford, Niall Canavan and Seán Scannell were all withdrawn from the original squad for a variety of reasons but King is very pleased with the quality he has with him in Hungary.

“You lose some and gain some. I’m very happy with the players we have here,” said King. “The mood is very good — it’s a very talented group. They seem very focused on getting three points on Thursday.”