Crawford expects O'Mahony to have 'big role going forward' for Ireland under-21s

COMING STAR: Eivind Helland of Norway in action against Mark O'Mahony of the Republic of Ireland. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Ireland under-21 head coach Jim Crawford has named a 24-strong squad for the two friendly internationals.

Only players born during, or after, 2004 can feature in the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifiers, with the Sweden games an opportunity to look at players from this age range before competitive games begin next year.

James Abankwah, Mark O’Mahony and Rocco Vata will be the most experienced of the players in the group with other Under-21 caps, Conor O’Brien, Adam Murphy, Alex Murphy, Sean Grehan and Ed McJannet all part of the travelling party.

There are first international call-ups for Jacob Slater of Brighton & Hove Albion, Gabriel Otegbayo of Sheffield Wednesday and Adrien Thibaut of Crewe Alexandra. Franco Umeh misses out due to injury.

Speaking ahead of the games, Crawford said: “This is a great opportunity to look at all our options ahead of qualification games next year. Much of the squad would have come through our international pathway, but for most this is their first involvement in an Under-21s squad.

“This will be a great experience for them, and having the likes of James Abankwah, Mark O’Mahony and Rocco Vata involved, who were all a key part in the last campaign, is huge as we expect them to have a big role going forward. The same goes for Sam Curtis, we’ve seen his quality, but he’ll remain with his club for this window as he has an opportunity for important minutes with his club that will further his development going forward.

“The opportunity came to test ourselves against Sweden and we jumped at the chance. I always say the players will get more out of it when they are challenged, and this will be a challenge – Sweden have the quality.

“Having missed out against Israel in 2022 we had to wait six long months to get a group together. This time we have an opportunity to bring a squad together, almost immediately, and this camp will be an excellent opportunity look at players against tough opposition.” 

The friendlies, on Thursday, November 14 and Sunday, November 17, will be the first time a Jim Crawford side will see action since last month when they narrowly missed out on qualification to next year’s Under-21 European Championships.

Ireland accumulated a record-equalling amount of points (19), the highest points tally of any side to finish outside the top two group places.

Crawford added: “Last month was really difficult to take, but I’m proud of the players and what we achieved as a group. We had five players involved with the senior team during the campaign, with two earning full caps (Andrew Moran and Sinclair Armstrong) and that’s a huge indicator of success.

“I’ve full faith that more from the last campaign will go on and represent our country and me and the rest of the underage international managers and staff will be proud to have played a small part in their journey.” 

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois), Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Walsh (Sligo Rovers).

Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Sean Grehan (Crystal Palace), Darius Lipsiuc (Stoke City), Alex Murphy (Newcastle United), Connor O’Brien (Accrington Stanley), David Okagbue (Walsall, on loan from Stoke City), Gabriel Otegbayo (Sheffield Wednesday), Jacob Slater (Brighton & Hove Albion).

Midfielders: Ed McJannet (Lecce), Jamie Mullins (Brighton & Hove Albion), Adam Murphy (Bristol City), Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh (Southampton), Glory Nzingo (Swansea), Rocco Vata (Watford), Harry Vaughan (Hull City).

Forwards: Tommy Lonergan (Fleetwood Town), Sean Moore (West Ham United), Mark O’Mahony (Portsmouth, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Ben Quinn (Mansfield Town), Adrien Thibaut (Crewe Alexander), Kevin Zefi (Roma).