Kerr's youngster face Croatia test

Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr made sweeping changes to his side for tonight’s friendly visit of Croatia to Lansdowne Road.

The most notable was in awarding 20-year-old Sunderland striker Stephen Elliott a debut alongside Robbie Keane – while there were rare starts for goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, centre-backs Richard Dunne and Gary Breen and midfielders Liam Miller and Graham Kavanagh.

With regular captain Kenny Cunningham on the bench, and in the absence of the rested Roy Keane, Kerr handed the armband for the first time to Kevin Kilbane.

Croatia were without Rangers striker Dado Prso – after he sustained a head injury in the 1-0 win at Hibernian on Sunday – and first-choice goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa, who missed the team’s flight out of Zagreb because of storms in his home town of Split.

Rep of Ireland v Croatia Rep of Ireland: Kenny, Finnan, Dunne, Breen, O’Shea, Miller, Kavanagh, Kilbane, Duff, Elliott, Keane.

Subs: Maybury, Quinn, Cunningham, McGeady, Given, Barrett, Doherty, Lee, Colgan.

Croatia: Butina, Tomas, Robert Kovac, Tudor, Simunic, Vranjes, Nico Kovac, Srna, Kranjcar, Babic, Klasnic.

Subs: Balaban, Tokic, Vasilj, Neretljak, Ivan Leko, Pranjic, Eduardo.

Referee: Gylfi Orrason (Iceland)