The Republic of Ireland play one of their biggest U21 fixtures in years today against Italy, with automatic qualification for UEFA's 2023 U21 Euros assured with a victory over the Azzuri.
The Republic of Ireland’s first ever U21 international was a 1-1 draw with Northern Ireland in Dalymount Park in March 1978. We were a couple of years behind the majority of Europe with Under 21 football began in 1976 with a European Championship replacing a European Under 23 tournament. We hadn’t entered at Under 23 level, and we didn’t take Under 21s seriously for decades either. Our first European championship qualifier wasn’t played until 1986 for the 1988 finals.
While the senior team have qualified a few times, and our youth teams performing well regularly - including winning at Under 16 and Under 18 level, we’ve nearly always struggled at Under 21 level, with more bottom placed group finishes than entries into the top 3. There are multiple reasons why that’s the case: our best players are fast-tracked to the senior team (Robbie Keane and Damien Duff don’t have a single U21 cap between them, for example); for many years we didn’t have a strong enough league to provide a bridge between youth and senior football; sometimes the manager was merely the senior team's assistant manager and, most obviously, the FAI didn’t really seem to care about that level at all. It certainly appears that things have changed and regardless of whether we qualify for the 2023 tournament, Ireland's Under 21s are no longer the forgotten group.
To illustrate how far they’ve come, we’re going to look briefly at each of Ireland’s European Championships qualifying campaigns at under 21 level.
1988
Jack Charlton’s assistant Maurice Setters was in charge for the first attempt at qualifying. The under 21s were played broadly in line with the senior qualifiers, with the underage game usually being played the night before the senior game. Ireland drew twice with Belgium but lost twice to Scotland to finish bottom of the 3 team group. Future senior internationals to feature included Denis Irwin, Steve Staunton, John Sheridan and Niall Quinn. We skipped the 1990 qualifiers.
1992
Our second campaign began with a 3-2 win at home to Turkey. Unfortunately we would lose all 5 remaining 5 to England (twice), Poland (twice) and Turkey to once again finish bottom. Roy Keane, Kenny Cunningham and Jeff Kenna would go on to lead that class in career achievements.
1994
A very tough group for Ireland saw Germany added as their senior team didn’t have to qualify for USA 94. We started with a win at home to Albania but again, it was to be our only win with a draw away to Albania mixed with double defeats to Spain, Germany and Denmark for another lasts placed finish. Mark Kinsella and Gary Kelly both went on to star for the senior team.
1996
Another pre-qualified nation added to the group with Euro 96 hosts England joining Portugal, Austria and Latvia. Ireland finished 3rd in the group with home wins over Latvia and Austria along with a home draw against group winners Portugal and away to Latvia. The better results were reflected in a better graduating class too with Shay Given, Stephen Carr, Gary Breen and Lee Carsley leading the field.
1998
With a change of manager at senior level, came a change of manager at under 21 level. New senior assistant manager Ian Evans took charge with Maurice Setters following Jack Charlton into retirement. Ireland won 3 games for the first time in a campaign, beating Macedonia home and away before a win at home to Lithuania. We lost the other 5 games including both games against Romania and Iceland. The last couple of games were played mostly by players who had finished 3rd in the 1997 under 20 World Cup but also featured the likes of Kevin Kilbane and Steve Finnan. We finished 3rd of five nations
2000
24 April 2000; Manager Don Givens talks to his players during a Republic of Ireland U21 Training Session at AUL Complex in Clonshaugh, Dublin. Photo by David Maher/Sportsfile
Ireland benefitted from a 0-0 draw at home to Macedonia being turned into a 3-0 win because of player registration issues and added wins over Malta (twice) and Macedonia (on field) to a draws away to Yugoslavia and home to Croatia. Our only defeats were in the return of those fixtures. We finished 3rd of five in the group again. Andy O’Brien, Stephen McPhail and Richard Dunne among those to go on to have exceptional careers.
2002
For the first time, the Ireland Under 21s had their own manager with Don Givens replacing Mick McCarthy’s assistant Ian Evans. Ireland beat Estonia and Cyprus in both games and drew with a terrific Dutch side in Waterford to finish 3rd in the group. We lost both games to Portugal and the away leg in Holland. The bones of this squad came from the 1998 U18 European champions, with John O’Shea and Andy Reid the biggest stars to emerge.
2004
11 February 2003; Wesley Hoolahan, Republic of Ireland, in action against Peter Canero, Scotland. International Friendly, Scotland U21 v Republic of Ireland U21, Rugby Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland, Soccer. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / SPORTSFILE *EDI*
This time round we had a win over Albania chalked off due to playing a suspended player and we finished 4th of 5 with only Georgia behind us. We did manage to beat the top two countries though for our only wins; Switzerland away, Russia at home. The late Liam Miller and Wes Hoolahan starred throughout with Jon Walters coming into the squad to score both goals in the last game of the group away in Switzerland.
2006
In a group with France, Switzerland, Israel and Cyprus we only won once (home to Cyprus) and finished 4th. Glenn Whelan, Aidan McGeady and Kevin Doyle would go on to win over 200 senior caps between them though.
2007
The competition finally broke away from the senior qualifiers and began as a completely stand-alone tournament. As one of the bottom 16 sides, we had to play a preliminary round but thankfully beat Azerbaijan home and away. We beat Greece away in our opening game but lost the next at home to Belgium to finish 2nd in the group. Richard Keogh and Paul McShane went on to represent Ireland’s senior team with distinction.
2009
16 October 2007; The Republic of Ireland team. European Under 21 Football Championship Qualifier, Republic of Ireland v England, Turners Cross, Cork. Picture credit; Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
Back to a standard group for 2009 but we finished bottom with only a win against Bulgaria with England, Portugal and Montenegro all ahead of us too. Mark Noble, oft mentioned as a possible recruit to Ireland, among those who scored against us. In the Ireland squad were the likes of Darren Randolph, Stephen Quinn and Anthony Stokes.
2011
Don Givens was replaced by Noel King midway through the qualifiers after 10 years in charge. A 6 team group this time out, but another bottom placed finished with our sole win coming at home to Estonia. Armenia, Switzerland and Turkey all beat us with Georgia managing to draw twice. Future Everton teammates Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy are the stand out names from that era
2013
A respectable campaign saw Ireland beat Italy, Hungary and Liechtenstein on the way to 3rd in the group. Only Turkey managed to beat Ireland twice. Robbie Brady was top scorer with Shane Duffy and Jeff Hendrick starring in the group too.
2015
15 November 2013; Republic of Ireland's Jack Grealish, centre, celebrates with team-mates Samir Carruthers, left, and Anthony Forde after scoring his side's third goal of the game. UEFA U21 Qualifying Round, Group 6, Republic of Ireland v Faroe Islands, Showgrounds, Sligo. Picture credit: Barry Cregg / SPORTSFILE
In a group with Germany, Romania, Monetenegro our only wins came against the Faroe Islands as we finished 4th of five nations. Shane Duffy had a second campaign, and he led a team that included top scorer Matt Doherty and, eh, Jack Grealish.
2017
Wins against Slovenia, Lithuania and Andorra (twice) saw Ireland finish 4th as the seeds predicted. Playing all home games in Waterford, we lost 1-4 and 1-3 to top seeds Italy and Serbia there. Our midfield trio were regularly current internationals Josh Cullen, Alan Browne and Jack Byrne.
2019
Wins against Israel, Kosovo and Azerbaijan helped Ireland finish 3rd in a 6 team group. The most striking result however may have been a 6-0 home defeat to Germany. In what was to be Noel King’s last campaign in charge, our standout players included Josh Cullen again and his then-West Ham clubmate Declan Rice (for the first part of the campaign anyway).
2021
19 November 2019; Republic of Ireland players, from left, Troy Parrott, Adam Idah and Conor Coventry following the UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifier match between Republic of Ireland and Sweden at Tallaght Stadium in Tallaght, Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The 2021 campaign started with Stephen Kenny preparing for the senior job with a blazing start that included wins over Luxembourg, Sweden (twice) and Armenia (twice) before the pandemic put a stop to our roll. He introduced exciting young attacking talents like Adam Idah and Troy Parrott with Nathan Collins marshalling the defence. Kenny got promoted to the senior job and Jim Crawford took over as under 21 boss during the pandemic. He lost several players to the senior team and losses to Italy and Iceland meant we just missed out on qualification for the first time. Michael Obafemi played in all 3 games for Crawford but a new wave got their first taste of u21 football.
2023
That new wave would set the base for the 2023 campaign with Crawford carrying players like Will Smallbone and Conor Coventry into a campaign that saw Ireland as third seeds for the first time. It wasn’t a great start with a draw in Luxembourg and a defeat in Montenegro as aprt of the opening 4 games. It was back-to-back wins over Sweden that put Ireland on the path for qualification and we head into the final qualifier with Italy on the back of a four game win streak.
If Ireland can beat Italy in Ascoli, we will qualify for the European Championships for the first ever time. As it is, we’re guaranteed to be in a two game play-off for a final spot for next summer’s finals in Romania and Georgia. We’ve come a long way.
SEE ALSO: Jim Crawford: 'The Group That Got Us In This Position Deserve A Chance'
