Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Don Givens today named an 18-man squad for next month’s double-header UEFA under-21 European Championship qualifying matches away to Georgia and Armenia.
David Meyler, Ian Bermingham, Lanre Oyebanjo and Darren Dennehy all return to the squad having missed the matches against Georgia and Switzerland earlier this month through injury.
The quartet take their place in the squad alongside experienced under-21 players such as Owen Garvan, Stephen Gleeson and Alan Judge, as well as Callum Morris, Seamus Conneely and Cian Hughton, all of whom made their under-21 debuts earlier this month and have retained their places in the squad.
Givens believes that the squad is capable of securing six points from the two matches, but says that the team must begin to convert chances into goals. While the Irish have performed well in their qualifying matches to date, failure to take opportunities in front of goal has hampered their progress.
Givens said: ‘Up until now we have performed a lot better than our results would suggest. Our approach play has been good, we just haven’t been finishing chances.
'We haven’t been scoring goals and that is what has us in this situation. We’re working hard to rectify that and if we put in two good performances in Georgia and Armenia then we should be capable of recording two wins.
‘The players in this squad have all been involved with the Under-21s before, with the exception of Lanre Oyebanjo, who was called into our last squad but had to withdraw through injury.
'As well as Lanre coming back to full fitness, we also have Darren Dennehy, Ian Bermingham and David Meyler available again and they are three big players for us.’
Republic of Ireland under-21 full-back Seamus Coleman returned from a serious foot injury to take part in the matches against Georgia and Switzerland earlier this month.
Those matches helped the former Sligo Rovers defender back to full fitness and recent weeks have seen Coleman push for a place in the Everton first team.
Donegal-born Coleman made his debut for Everton in the Europa League against Benfica and although the Portuguese side ran out 5-0 winners, Coleman went on to make his Premiership debut the following week away to Bolton Wanderers.
Givens believes Coleman has a good future ahead of himself: ‘Seamus is beginning to get a look-in at Everton. He played in the Europa League match against Benfica and then made his Premiership debut against Bolton. Seamus is only coming back from injury and he is going to get stronger.
'To make your debut away from home in a European fixture, playing out of position in a weakened team was tough for Seamus, but he will learn a lot from that match.
'Seamus wants to learn, he wants to improve himself and situations like that will stand to him in the long term.’
Republic of Ireland under-21 squad v Georgia & Armenia:
Shane Redmond (Burton Albion)
Stephen Henderson (Bristol City)
Seamus Coleman (Everton)
Callum Morris (Newcastle United)
Brendan Moloney (Notts County)
Lanre Oyebanjo (Histon)
Darren Dennehy (Hereford United)
Ian Bermingham (Shamrock Rovers)
Cian Hughton (Lincoln City)
Seamus Conneely (Galway United)
James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic)
David Meyler (Sunderland)
Stephen Gleeson (MK Dons)
Owen Garvan (Ipswich Town)
Alan Judge (Plymouth Argyle)
Cillian Sheridan (Plymouth Argyle)
James Collins (Darlington)
Jay O’Shea (Birmingham City)
