Ireland U21s suffer blow to qualification hopes in defeat to Italy

Ireland now trail Group leader Sweden by seven points ahead of Tuesday’s meeting at Tallaght

Ireland's Ross Tierney has a shot on goal saved by Italy goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi during the Uefa European U21 Championship qualifying group A match between Republic of Ireland and Italy at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

Uefa Under-21 Championship 2021 Qualifying Round: Group F 

Ireland 0 Italy 1 (Lucca 31, Cancellieri 90) 

Jim Crawford has described Tuesday’s Euro qualifier against Sweden as a win or bust for his Ireland’s U21s after they slipped to a second defeat in a row.

Top seeds Italy were the superior side at Tallaght, scoring in each half but Ireland were left wondering what might have been had Ross Tierney converted a chance from six yards in between conceding.

Credit must go to Marco Carnesecchi who advanced to block Tierney’s volley but it was too rare an occasion for the visiting goalkeeper to be worked by an Ireland side short of creativity.

An unfortunate slip by defender Jake O’Brien allowed Lorenzo Lucca to smash home the opener from close range on 31 minutes and substitute Matteo Cancellieri caught Ireland on the counter for the second in the final minute.

Ireland are now seven points adrift of group leaders Sweden, who hammered Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-0, ahead of Tuesday’s meeting at Tallaght.

The Azzurri occupy the play-off position for the 2023 finals, just a point off the Swedes.

Dropping points in the draw away to bottom seeds Luxembourg and defeat to Montenegro has manifested itself into a potentially early exit from qualification contention.

Only a miraculous recovery in the second half of the campaign will regain any hope of ending Ireland’s wait for a major tournament breakthrough.

“Italy and Sweden have created a huge gap so I feel Tuesday is win or bust for us,” admitted Crawford, looking at his first full campaign descending into a chase for third, similar to his previous boss Stephen Kenny.

“There’s no two ways about it now. Sweden at home is a massive game for us.”

Crawford was pleased by the manner his side responded to conceding but up against a side with spearheaded by midfielder Nicolò Rovella, a €20m recruit by Juventus, it was an uphill struggle.

Ireland’s midfield pairing of captain Conor Coventry and Gavin Kilkenny were constantly outnumbered, suffocating their space to link play.

A string of saves from man-of-the-match Brian Maher kept the margin of defeat to two.

“It was important to stay in the game after conceding the first and we kept our shape against a really good team,” added the Ireland boss.

“Italy draw you in and get behind you with their give it and go passes. When they get their full-backs bombing on, they create all sort of overloads that can go against you.

“Our boys just had to be a little bit cleverer in those situations by stepping in to block them.”

Emanuel Vignato on the left presented a real problem for Lee O’Connor in the first half. He sent an acrobatic volley wide on 12 minutes after he fizzed a low drive past the near post with Maher rooted to the spot. The latter chance came after the opener. O’Brien was in two minds on whether to use his head or foot to clear a right-wing cross. He did neither, instead slipping to the turf and playing in gleeful striker Lucca to tuck away the loose ball.

Ireland required some vigour and the introduction of Festy Ebosele and JJ Kayode on 56 minutes presented the Italians with a different type of threat. Kayode had a penalty claim rejected while Ebosele, now a regular under Wayne Rooney at Derby County, scooped the ball over from the edge of the box.

Rovella’s class began to show and twice he drew saves from Maher, the second producing a brilliant one-handed save off a low first-time curler.

Despite the pressure, Ireland got a sight at goal with eight minutes left. One Bohemians substitute Dawson Devoy found another in Tierney from a free-kick but the latter couldn’t capitalise after controlling the ball on his chest.

“It was a key moment in any game,” admitted Crawford. “As soon as it landed to Rossi, I would have backed him to score because he has a habit of doing that sort of stuff.

“That could have been a fantastic equaliser for us but it wasn’t to be and then we got caught with a counter-attack which was disappointing again.”

With Ireland committing bodies into attack, they were liable to be exposed. Goalscorer Lucca made the running by turning his marker in midfield before releasing Cancellieri to sprint clear and stroke the ball past the helpless Maher.

“The game-plan that we set out worked for large parts of the game,” said Maher. “We made chances, but small things like putting the ball in the net didn’t happen for us.

IRELAND: B Maher; L O’Connor, M McGuinness, J O’Brien, J Bagan; C Coventry, G Kilkenny (R Tierney 76); C Noss (F Ebosele 56), W Smallbone (D Devoy 76), T Wright; C Whelan (JJ Kayode 77).

ITALY: M Carnesecchi; R Bellanova, A Cambiaso, M Lovato (L Pirola 34), C Okoli; N Rovella, S Esposito, S Ricci; L Colombo (M Cancellieri 86), L Lucca, E Vignato (S Mulattieri 90+4).

REFEREE: Horatiu Fesnic (ROU)