Givens slams Under 21's performance

Don Givens is set to break up the current Republic of Ireland Under-21 team and start rebuilding following yesterday's embarrassing…

Don Givens is set to break up the current Republic of Ireland Under-21 team and start rebuilding following yesterday's embarrassing 1-0 defeat by Albania.

Givens told his players they should be "ashamed" of themselves after they lost to a team he described as the "poorest" he had seen at that level, and suggested he would bring in some fresh young faces for the next game.

"There will be decisions made now in so much as maybe this squad will get a bit younger for the next match," said Givens.

"Maybe we need to start working with the next group a little bit earlier than I envisaged, because we have to look forward.

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"The performances by certain players tell you that they have little or no chance of moving on to Brian Kerr, and as soon as that happens they have to get off the belt and we get the next person on there.

"Decisions will have to be made on certain players."

Ireland slumped to their third defeat in four qualifying matches, but this was by far the most embarrassing.

"I told them we should be ashamed of ourselves," said Givens.

"When you lose to a team like that, who are probably the poorest team I've seen at Under-21 level, it sums us up, it really does.

"A team of our stature shouldn't lose to that team. We might have got a goalless draw because we found it hard to score, but we don't lose the them.

"I am absolutely sick with that result. I said to them that the one thing we mustn't do is concede a goal to them, and the fact we did is scandalous. It's a killer.

"The state of the pitch was always going to make it hard for us, but you can't keep making excuses, that was dreadful and there were very few positives from my point of view.

"They were a poor team who didn't cause us too many problems and we gifted them a goal which we couldn't get back."

Ireland will this morning be hoping for positive news on Sunderland midfielder Mark Rossiter, who was carried off with suspected cruciate ligament damage having come off the bench for his first cap.

PA