Ireland U21s move closer to Euro playoff with Montenegro win

The Republic of Ireland U21s are a step closer to a playoff spot for the European Championships after defeating Montenegro 3-1 at Tallaght Stadium on Monday afternoon.

Goals from Will Smallbone, Liam Kerrigan and Tyreik Wright were enough to earn Ireland the three points - their fourth win in a row - which sees them climb into second place in Group F.

Manager Jim Crawford made five changes from the side he selected to start their 3-0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina at this venue last Friday night.

Tayo Adaramola and Eiran Cashin were handed their debuts in place of Mipo Odubeko and the injured Oisin McEntee while Conor Noss, Liam Kerrigan, and JJ Kayode also came in for Gavin Killkenny, Ross Tierney, and Joel Bagan.

The two sides cancelled each other out for large periods of the first half although captain Conor Coventry, who was breaking the all-time record of Ireland U21s appearances, did threaten with 12 minutes on the clock, but he dragged his shot from distance wide of the target.

Noss was one of Ireland’s standout performers in the first 45, and he went close to giving his country the lead just shy of the half an hour mark but after skilfully bursting past two of his markers, his thunderous goalbound shot was blocked by the defence.

Kerrigan did well to prevent a long pass into the right channel from going out of play on 37 minutes before he used his pace to beat his man and force a good save from Montenegro goalkeeper Nikola Ivezic at his near post.

The visiting keeper needed to be alert from the resulting corner as Noss sidefooted a clever short corner towards the far bottom left corner but he got down well to keep it out.

But he would be beaten shortly before the half-time break as Smallbone grabbed his third