With only pride at stake, Ireland completed their failed European Under 21 Championship qualifying campaign with a two nil defeat by Germany in Heidenheim this Tuesday afternoon. The team did deliver a much improved performance from that provided in the home fixture against today’s opponents, which they lost by six goals to nil but nevertheless the outcome was never really in doubt. Ireland defended resolutely for the first thirty minutes but goals on thirty two and forty minutes secured a comfortable victory for Germany.
Team: Liam Bossin (Nottingham Forest); Corey Whelan (Liverpool-Loan-Crewe Alexandra), Ryan Delaney (Rochdale), Ryan Sweeney (Stoke City-Loan-Mansfield Town), Danny Kane (Cork City-Loan-AFC Fylde); Shaun Donnellan (Yeovil Town), Josh Cullen [C] (West Ham United-Loan-Charlton Athletic), Liam Kinsella (Walsall); Jordan Shipley (Coventry City), Ronan Hale (Birmingham City-Loan-Derry City), Jamie McGrath (Dundalk)
Substitutions: Jimmy Dunne (Burnley-Loan-Hearts) for Kane 65′ and Reece Grego-Cox (Crawley Town) for Hale 77′