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Crawford: Shootout loss a 'punch in the stomach'

Ireland U21 manager Jim Crawford described his side's penalty shootout loss to Israel as a real "punch in the stomach" for the players, and rued their failure to take their chances in the opening leg in Tallaght.

After 120 minutes of football in Tel Aviv ended in stalemate, penalty misses from Tyreik Wright, Evan Ferguson and Dawson Devoy ended Ireland's hopes of reaching a first major championship at the age-grade.

Reflecting on the loss afterwards, Crawford briefly touched on the home draw in Tallaght, when Ireland created a welter of chances, particularly in the second half, which they failed to convert, leaving them only level pegging heading into last night's second leg.

"That's football for you, it can be cruel at times," Crawford told RTÉ Sport's Darren Frehill afterwards.

"I couldn't be more proud of the players out there today. It was backs against the wall stuff for large portions of the game. And we expected that, we knew that.

"It probably goes back to the first leg where we missed those gilt-edged chances, where had we scored them, it would have put us in a really strong position coming out here. We obviously caused them some concern because they dropped down three senior players who played on Saturday against Albania.

"It probably goes back to the first leg where we missed those gilt-edged chances" - Republic of Ireland U21 manager Jim Crawford reflects on their bitter playoff defeat in Tel Aviv with @DarrenFrehill last night pic.twitter.com/ZhOilz5sch

"They knew the threat that we posed. The players did their country proud, their club proud, they did their grassroots clubs proud, the coaches who got these players interested in football in the first place, their parents proud. It's a great group of players. And

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