Ireland Under-21s will be looking to bounceback from defeat against Norway on Friday when they take on Italy in Cork tomorrow evening.

More than 5,000 are expected at the game in Turner’s Cross as the young Boys in Green welcome the Azzurri to town for the 5.30pm kick-off on Leeside.

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The race to top Group A remains on with either Ireland, Italy or Norway in contention of leading the group heading into the international winter break.

In their final home game of the year Jim Crawford’s team will be looking to keep up an impressive record that has seen them undefeated on home soil for two years.

Match Details
Fixture: Ireland U21 v Italy U21
Date: Tuesday, November 21
KO time: KO 5.30pm
Stadium: Turner’s Cross Stadium, Cork
Match Coverage: RTÉ2 and RTÉPlayer
Ticket news: A limited amount of tickets are available for the game. Available here
Match Stat: One of the greatest Ireland Under-21s results came against Italy in Casarano in 2012. Ireland beat the already qualified Italians 4-2 despite being down to nine men. Sean Murray and Conor Henderson produced two superb strikes with Aaron McCarey denying Ciro Immobile from the spot.

Team news: There are no major injury concerns for Jim Crawford.

Match Officials
Referee: Lionel Tschudi (Switzerland)
Assistant Referees: Sladan Josipović (Swizterland) Bastien Lengacher (Switzerland)
Fourth Official: Alessandro Dudic (Switzerland)

What they said

Ireland Under-21’s Anselmo Garcia MacNulty said: “We know we played a good game against Norway. We’ve spoken about it and know we need to improve from the goals conceded. We created a lot of chances against Norway and need to bring that into Italy. They (Italy) are a top country, top players but we have top players too.”

Ireland Head Coach Jim Crawford said “The result didn’t go our way but we know we could have come away with one or even three points. We stood up to the challenge and that’s what tomorrow will be another challenge against the red hot favourites for the group. It’s a chance to go toe-to-toe with a team with a squad made up of players in Serie A and Serie B players and we look forward to it.”

Republic of Ireland Under-21s Squad

Goalkeepers: Tiernan Brooks (Cork City, on loan from Notts County), Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Josh Keeley (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: James Abankwah (Charlton Athletic, on loan from Udinese), Tayo Adaramola (Crystal Palace), Sam Curtis (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Anselmo Garcia MacNulty (PEC Zwolle), Sean Grehan (Crystal Palace), Bosun Lawal (Fleetwood Town, on loan from Celtic), Connor O’Riordan (Crewe Alexandra), Sean Roughan (Lincoln City)

Midfielders: Baba Adeeko (Wigan Athletic), Zak Gilsenan (Blackburn Rovers), Matt Healy (Royal Francs Borains), Kian Leavy (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Adam Murphy (St. Patrick's Athletic), Ollie O’Neill (Fulham), Killian Phillips (Wycombe Wanderers, on-loan from Crystal Palace)

Forward: Sinclair Armstrong (QPR), Conor Carty (St. Patrick’s Athletic, on loan from Bolton Wanderers), Aidomo Emakhu (Millwall), Johnny Kenny (Shamrock Rovers, on loan from Celtic), Armstrong Oko-Flex (FC Zürich), Tony Springett (Norwich City)