Irish U-21s lose to Montenegro

Sean McCaffrey admitted he was frustrated not to be able to hand the Republic of Ireland Under-21s side back to Don Givens with a first UEFA Championships win under their belts.

The Irish lost 1-0 to Montenegro in Podgorica thanks to a fourth-minute Goran Vujovic goal.

Irish youth boss McCaffrey was acting manager of the side as Don Givens is in temporary charge of the senior team in Cardiff this week.

"It was hugely disappointing for me. I'd like to have helped engineer a win for Don because he was very good to let me do this and I feel I let him down," said McCaffrey.

"We created enough chances but to win matches you can't start as poorly as we did and you have to take your own chances when they come along.

"It was disappointing not to get something out of the game in terms of the way we played and what we created. For 70 minutes we played well.

"This is three qualifying matches in a row that this side has conceded an early goal and failed to score.

"There were some very positive performances. Eddie Nolan, Stephen Gleeson, Stephen Quinn, Keith Treacy, Adam Rooney and Aidan Downes when he came in did well."