Nolan calls for improvement in U21s

Republic of Ireland Under-21 captain Eddie Nolan admits his team must improve considerably from their last outing if they are to take anything from their game against Portugal in Madeira tomorrow night.

The youngsters hope to round off their UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign on a high but go into the match bottom of Group Three.

Portugal still have a hope of securing one of the four best runners-up spots behind England, and Nolan knows they will be played off the park if there is a repeat of the performance they gave in the 2-0 defeat away to Bulgaria last week.

“It was my first time captaining the team and that was a really big honour for me, so it was just so disappointing that we didn’t perform”, the Blackburn defender told www.fai.ie.

“We just didn’t turn up on the night. A lot of the lads are just getting used to playing under-21s.

“It’s a big step up from playing under-19 but hopefully we’ll be ready for the next qualifying campaign.

“We know we are going to have to put in a really good performance on Tuesday, certainly a lot better than we did against Bulgaria.”

Portugal beat the Republic in Cork last September and are expected to go for a similar line-up, while Ireland’s squad contains only three players – Nolan, Stephen Gleeson and Owen Garvan – who were involved in that match, as manager Don Givens looks to the future by using only players who will be eligible for the next qualifying campaign.

“The game we played against Portugal in Cork was the hardest game we played in the campaign”, said Nolan.

“They are a very good side and their two midfielders, [Manuel] Fernandes and [Miguel] Veloso, really controlled that game.”