Jim Crawford admits that the new faces in his Ireland U-21 side had a "baptism of fire" as the Republic were well beaten by Switzerland in the opening match of a three-game friendly tournament. A goal in each half gave a highly-rated Swiss side a comfortable 2-0 win over Ireland, who now regroup to face Australia in Marbella on Wednesday. Players like Oisin McEntee (Newcastle United), Lewis Richards (Wolves), Festy Ebosele (Derby County) and Ryan Johansson (Sevilla) started to claim their first U-21 caps, a steep learning curve, Crawford admits. "It was a baptism of fire for them, playing against opposition like this, they will have learned a hell of a lot from the game," Crawford said. We knew it was going to be a challenge and that's why we wanted the game, to test the players.

Source: Irish Independent May 30, 2021 15:11 UTC