Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Jim Crawford has one key message for his players ahead of this evening's Euro 2025 qualifier against San Marino – there’s no easy game in international football.
That may seem a bit unnecessary against lowly opponents who arrive at Turner’s Cross having conceded nine goals without reply in their two games to date, but Crawford can point to last year’s 1-1 draw with Luxembourg as a real warning shot.
"It was a huge learning curve, we created a few chances against Luxembourg and we didn’t convert them," Crawford said of that game.
"We brought Colm Whelan on, he scores a fantastic goal and you’re going 'okay.’ But they were so dangerous on the counter-attack and it was causing us some issues. Ultimately it cost us two points because towards the end of the game they got a counter-attack and they got a penalty from it.
"It was hugely disappointing. Certainly from the staff, we’ve learned from it and it’s about us getting that message across to the players that there’s no easy games in international football.
"San Marino are going to bring a different type of challenge. Yeah, they’ll be tough to break down because they get bodies behind the ball but also they can be quite effective in counter-attacks.
"They played against Norway the other day and they had a couple of chances at 0-0 early in the game, so the players are well aware of that."
Ireland’s Group A campaign started in perfect fashion as Aidomo Emakhu’s 96th minute winner game them a 3-2 opening day win against Turkey.
The U21s are also boosted by the return of Sinclair Armstrong, who made his senior debut against the Netherlands on Sunday, and Conor Carty who has shaken off illness and trained with the team ahead of this game. They will be without Sean Roughan who will miss the game after he was red carded for his celebrations following Friday's late winner.
"I spoke to Sean about it. He’s got his red card and deservedly so. We had a conversation about it. Disappointing, he was sorry and he’s just got to learn from it.
"He’s a young lad and he’s a big part of this group as well. It’s something he needs to learn and learn fast because the last thing we want is anybody suspended for big games coming up, whether it’s Norway or Italy."
Crawford said that there will be multiple changes for the game with one eye perhaps on the more difficult ties that lie ahead.
"Every single one of these players is pushing each other as hard as they can, and it’s important to have that environment with any successful team and any sport, where everyone is pushing each other.
"Okay only 11 players can play and there are going to be disappointed players, but when we get back on the training pitch nobody is sulking or moping. They’re doing their best to get into the team for the next game. That’s vitally important and we have that here.
"Players can't rest on their laurels saying ‘okay we beat Turkey, I’m going to stay in the team.’ There will be changes made, we’ve got to freshen it up."
San Marino’s U21 qualifying record doesn’t make for pretty reading with only three wins in 132 games. Two of those were awarded by UEFA in the boardroom.
Their sole victory on the pitch came a decade ago as they defeated a Wales side containing the likes of Leicester's Danny Ward and Tom Lawrence of Rangers.
They started their campaign with a commendable 2-0 loss in Latvia, but went down 7-0 to Norway last time out having held their opponents out for 34 minutes.
Central midfielder Alex Toccaceli, who plays with SS Murata in San Marino, and Simone Santi, who may be pushed into a more advanced position, are two of their more highly rated players.
Regardless though, and even with the lessons of Luxembourg ringing in the players’ ears, anything other than a very comfortable home win would be a surprise.
Watch Republic of Ireland U-21 v San Marino U-21 in Euro 2025 Under-21 qualifying on Tuesday from 7pm on the RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
