Awaiting Tom Mohan's squad, who are top seeds in this Elite Round, are Azerbaijan, Romania, and Russia, with the latter acting as hosts for these three games in Krasnodar.

Mohan has handed first call-ups to Sligo Rovers' Niall Morahan, Arsenal's Mark McGuinness, Bolton Wanderers' Luca Connell, Derby County's Festy Ebosele, and Aston Villa's Tyriek Wright (pictured above), while Stoke City defender Nathan Collins is ruled out due to injury.

The quartet of Lee O'Connor, Conor Coventry, Troy Parrott and Adam Idah have been promoted to the Under-21 squad.

"As a group of players and staff, we are really looking forward to represent our country at the Elite Round in Krasnodar. This will be our first time to be involved in a UEFA tournament in Russia and our squad are really looking forward to training at the very impressive Krasnodar Academy," said Mohan.

"I expect all three games will be very tough against very strong opponents who have all performed really well to qualify from their respective groups. From our own perspective, we were delighted to have qualified for the Elite Round and we aim to build on the positives from our team's performances in the Qualifying Round.

"This Elite Round tournament will be of great benefit to the development of our players as they will experience playing in high intensity competitive games against quality opponents with all teams competing strongly to top the group and qualify for the finals. Our players will also experience a different culture which is also very important from an educational point of view and one that we are going to embrace."

The seven group winners in the Elite Round will qualify to join hosts Armenia in the finals, which will be played from July 14-27.

Ireland last qualified for the Under-19 finals tournament in 2011 - when they reached the semi-finals - while they won the competition outright in 1998 after overcoming Germany in a dramatic penalty shoot-out.

Republic of Ireland Under-19 Squad
Goalkeepers: Brian Maher (St Patrick's Athletic), George McMahon (Burnley)
Defenders: Andy Lyons (Bohemians), Tom Gaston (Bordeaux), Mark McGuinness (Arsenal), Oisin McEntee (Newcastle United), Jack James (Luton Town), Kameron Ledwidge (Southampton)
Midfielders: Niall Morahan (Sligo Rovers), Aaron Bolger (Shamrock Rovers), Jason Knight (Derby County), Luca Connell (Bolton Wanderers), Will Smallbone (Southampton), Conor Grant (Sheffield Wednesday), Richie O'Farrell (UCD)
Forwards: Ali Reghba (Bohemians), Will Ferry (Southampton), Festy Ebosele (Derby County), Tyriek Wright (Aston Villa), Jonathan Afolabi (Southampton)

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship - Elite Round Qualifiers
March 20: Republic of Ireland v Romania, Kuban Stadium, Krasnodar, KO 12:00 (9:00 Irish Time)
March 23: Republic of Ireland v Azerbaijan, Kuban Stadium, Krasnodar, KO 12:00 (9:00 Irish Time)
March 26: Republic of Ireland v Russia, FC Krasnodar Academy Stadium, KO 17:00 (14:00 Irish Time)