King's men ready for Dutch challenge

Noel King has set his side the task of stepping up to the plate as they welcome the Netherlands for Wednesday’s friendly match in Tallaght Stadium.

The Republic of Ireland Under-21 side are continuing their preparations for the European Under-21 Championship qualifying campaign that starts with an away trip to the Faroe Islands in August. King is hoping for a good showing from his side on Wednesday.

“I want us to maintain the way we have been playing and get people familiar to that system. The Dutch play in a certain way, generally a 4-3-3 formation, they generally have some very talented players, they’ve qualified for the finals and they represent a huge challenge.

“It’s a good challenge for us because I think you want to play the best teams that you can. Then you can get accustomed to that and then you can make a good judgement on how the players are performing.”

The Irish underage squad is represented by a number of new players coming into the squad and Noel King is pleased to have their additions.

“It’s great (to have so many new players), there’s a lot of new players here now, Carl McHugh in, Derrick Williams coming in too, although he was with us at the tail end of the last game, Sean McDermott coming in, there’s a lot of new players after coming in.”

King is delighted to be involved and hopes that his side can gel quickly before their competitive commitments.

“It’s difficult, you have so many good players, we have so many very, very good central defenders and to pick two out of that is very difficult and then you need them to hit form on the right day together, you don’t know, but there’s a lot of uncertainty.

“That’s the challenge and we don’t have that much time to prepare, although you might have three or four games, it’ll come very quickly.

“It’s a good age and I like coaching at this age, I’m looking forward to the game and the experience.”

King confirmed that Derby County’s Mark O’Brien is out of the game with a knee problem with no replacement being called up. King also confirmed that Everton defender Shane Duffy will captain the team.