Republic of Ireland Under-21 captain Conor Coventry will lead out Jim Crawford’s team against Bosnia & Herzegovina on Friday afternoon as the U21s open their European Championship qualification campaign.

Conor’s international journey began for the Ireland Under-16 in April 2016 against Turkey at Home Farm FC in Whitehall, Dublin. It’s somewhat fitting that the West Ham United midfielder’s journey would begin in north Dublin as, although born in London, his family hail from Cabra.

Operating as a central midfielder Conor has represented Ireland 41 times at underage level appearing for the U17s, U18s, U19s, and clocked up 13 appearances for the U21s in the 2019/20 season.

In March, he was called-up to Stephen Kenny’s senior team for the World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Luxembourg and returned to the U21s in June playing all three games in a Spain camp against Switzerland, Australia and Denmark.

He now prepares for his second campaign with the U21s with two crunch away clashes for the Boys in Green.

On Friday at 3.30pm (Irish time) Ireland take on Bosnia before heading to Luxembourg for their second qualifier of the campaign on Tuesday (September 7) at 3pm (Irish time).

Name: Conor Coventry
DOB: 25.03.2003
Club: West Ham United
Position: Midfield
Ireland underage international appearances: 41
Debut: Ireland U16 v Turkey U16, Home Farm FC, Whitehall, Dublin, 06.04.2016.