King's men left with hill to climb after Turkey defeat

Republic Under-21 0 Turkey Under-21 1

Noel King’s Republic of Ireland Under-21 side saw their hopes of qualifying for next year’s UEFA Championship finals all but extinguished after a 1-0 defeat to Turkey in Sligo tonight.

Oguzhan Ozyakup fired the winner for the visitors six minutes from time despite the 73rd-minute sending-off of Muhammed Demir for reacting angrily to a challenge from Greg Cunningham.

King’s men must now win their two remaining games away to Hungary and group leaders Italy to stand any chance of claiming one of the qualifying places as best runners-up.