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Aaron Connolly the only senior on U21s' radar, insists Crawford

Jim Crawford says it was never a possibility that any of Stephen Kenny's senior Republic of Ireland internationals would follow Aaron Connolly back to the Under-21s for Friday's European Championships play-off against Israel in Tallaght.

Gavin Bazunu, Troy Parrott, Nathan Collins, Jason Knight, Michael Obafemi and Andrew Omobamidele are all eligible to play for Crawford but will instead be heading to Scotland for the seniors' UEFA Nations League clash on Saturday night.

Ireland then host Armenia on Tuesday, the same evening the U-21s will be in Israel for the second leg.

Connolly is back with the U-21s as he looks to revive his flagging Ireland career, but his case is the exception, not the rule.

"It was really Aaron would have been the only one [the U-21s considered calling in]," said Crawford on Thursday.

"So, as I said before, we reached out to him to see if he would be interested, because you can't dismiss talent when you’ve got such a small playing pool to begin with, compared to other countries.

"He is playing football, he is playing at a decent level, he has shown to us through his move to a club in Italy [Serie B side Venezia] that he was getting away from all the noise that was distracting him in the UK, so it was a good step.

"We had numerous conversations beforehand. I was happy enough we were going to get an Aaron Connolly who was focused and ready to deliver.

"Aaron has come in and he is keen to make an impression and he has certainly stamped his authority in training. He has been training really well and he is looking forward to the two games."

Crawford stressed that the dialogue between the senior and U-21s camp is consistent and positive, adding: "Stephen [Kenny] rang us yesterday to ask us how it's been going.

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