Jim Crawford has named a squad of 24 players in his Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad for two upcoming friendly internationals with Sweden in Marbella.
The selection is based on players eligible for the next campaign, with only players born during, or after, 2004 being allowed to feature in the 2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifiers.
The Sweden double-header is seen as an opportunity for Crawford and his coaching staff to look at players from this age range before competitive games begin next year.
James Abankwah (eight caps), Mark O'Mahony and Rocco Vata (five caps each) will be the most experienced of the players in the group.
Conor O’Brien, Adam Murphy, Alex Murphy, Sean Grehan and Ed McJannet also gained experience in the last campaign, when Ireland narrowly missed out on qualification for the 2025 European Championships.
There are first international call-ups for Jacob Slater of Brighton & Hove Albion, Gabriel Otegbayo of Sheffield Wednesday and Adrien Thibaut of Crewe Alexandra. Franco Umeh misses out due to injury.
Speaking ahead of the games, Jim Crawford said: "This is a great opportunity to look at all our options ahead of qualification games next year. Much of the squad would have come through our international pathway, but for most this is their first involvement in an Under-21s squad.
"This will be a great experience for them, and having the likes of James Abankwah, Mark O’Mahony and Rocco Vata involved, who were all a key part in the last campaign, is huge as we expect them to have a big role going forward.
"The same goes for Sam Curtis, we’ve seen his quality, but he’ll remain with his club for this window as he has an opportunity for important minutes with his club that will further his development going forward.
"The opportunity came to test ourselves against Sweden and we jumped at the chance. I always say the players will get more out of it when they are challenged, and this will be a challenge – Sweden have the quality.
"Having missed out against Israel in 2022 we had to wait six long months to get a group together. This time we have an opportunity to bring a squad together, almost immediately, and this camp will be an excellent opportunity look at players against tough opposition."
The friendlies, on Thursday, 14 November and Sunday, 17 November, will be the first time a Jim Crawford side will see action since last month when a 1-1 draw with Italy ended their hopes of qualification at the end of a strong campaign.
Ireland accumulated a record-equalling amount of points (19), the highest points tally of any side to finish outside the top two group places.
They also found the back of the net 24 times, which is the most goals scored during an Irish Under-21 qualification campaign.
Crawford added: "Last month was really difficult to take, but I’m proud of the players and what we achieved as a group. We had five players involved with the senior team during the campaign, with two earning full caps (Andrew Moran and Sinclair Armstrong) and that’s a huge indicator of success.
"I’ve full faith that more from the last campaign will go on and represent our country and me and the rest of the underage international managers and staff will be proud to have played a small part in their journey."
Republic of Ireland Under-21 Squad
Goalkeepers: Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois), Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur), Conor Walsh (Sligo Rovers).
Defenders: James Abankwah (Udinese), Sean Grehan (Crystal Palace), Darius Lipsiuc (Stoke City), Alex Murphy (Newcastle United), Connor O'Brien (Accrington Stanley), David Okagbue (Walsall, on loan from Stoke City), Gabriel Otegbayo (Sheffield Wednesday), Jacob Slater (Brighton & Hove Albion).
Midfielders: Ed McJannet (Lecce), Jamie Mullins (Brighton & Hove Albion), Adam Murphy (Bristol City), Joe O’Brien-Whitmarsh (Southampton), Glory Nzingo (Swansea), Rocco Vata (Watford), Harry Vaughan (Hull City).
Forwards: Tommy Lonergan (Fleetwood Town), Sean Moore (West Ham United), Mark O’Mahony (Portsmouth, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Ben Quinn (Mansfield Town), Adrien Thibaut (Crewe Alexander), Kevin Zefi (Roma).
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