Stephen Kenny has confirmed that a number of players will make their Ireland U21 debuts against Armenia on Thursday.
The squad was hit with five withdrawals on Monday with Conor Masterson, Caoimhin Kelleher, Michael Obafemi, Neil Farrugia and Trevor Clarke all unavailable. Anthony Scully, Corey O'Keeffe, Gavin Bazunu, Simon Power and Kameron Ledwidge were called up in their stead.
Jayson Molumby and Lee O'Connor will miss the game in Yerevan as they are suspended but will be available when Ireland play Sweden on November 19th in Dublin.
"I'm very happy with the personnel in the squad and it shows that we've got a depth of talent at this level," Stephen Kenny told FAI TV.
That's credit to all of the under-age coaches who've done fantastic work over the years.
Gavin Bazunu, just 17-years of age, will make his debut for the U-21s which is terrific for him. We've got a lot of changes in the back-four. Thomas O'Connor will come in and make his debut after his fantastic season so far at Gillingham.
Danny McNamara, who has been in the squad since September, gets an opportunity and Nathan Collins, of course, who has been terrific at Stoke City so far this season.
Ireland are currently top of Group 1 with ten points. Though, those behind them - including Iceland, Italy and Sweden - have games in hand.
"We played extremely well against Armenia in Tallaght," added Kenny, "but Armenia will be a different proposition out here and they had a fantastic victory over Luxembourg in the last round of games.
"We're going into the game with the aim to win, these are our 11th and 12th matches of the year and we want to end this year on a high."
