James Abankwah among new call-ups to Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad

Udinese's James Abankwah is among the nine first-time call-ups to the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad for the upcoming trio of friendlies against Gabon, Kuwait and Ukraine in Austria next week.

The 19-year-old former St Pat's defender made his second Serie A appearance - and first start - for Udinese in their 1-0 defeat to Juventus on Sunday.

He is one of nine new call-ups to Jim Crawford's Under-21 squad for the Austrian trip.

Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Conor Carty (St. Patrick's Athletic), Dylan Duffy (Lincoln City), Sean Grehan (Crystal Palace), Jack Henry-Francis (Arsenal), Ed McJannet (Lecce), Rocco Vata (Celtic) and Harry Vaughan (Hull City) are the other new faces in the squad.

Ireland will play the Gabon Under-23s, who are preparing for the Under-23 AFCON later this month, while Ukraine's Under-21s are in this summer's Euros, which Ireland agonisingly missed out after a play-off defeat to Israel after a penalty shootout last September.

Crawford said: "These three games will be important for the development of our squad. We're playing three teams from three different continents and that brings an exciting challenge that not all Irish teams get exposure to.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's a chance for players to establish their place in the squad for the qualifiers in September and beyond. We won our first game as a group against Iceland and we want to use that as a platform for these upcoming games."

Ireland Under-21 squad

Goalkeepers: Tiernan Brooks (Notts County), Killian Cahill (Brighton & Hove Albion), Josh Keeley (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Tayo Adaramola (Crystal Palace), Sam Curtis (St. Patrick's Athletic) James Furlong (Brighton & Hove Albion), Anselmo Garcia