Ian Evans provided something of a talking point yesterday by leaving Thomas Morgan out of his team to meet Lithuania in this evening's European under-21 championship game at Dalymount Park.

Morgan, who moved to St Patrick's Athletic from Blackburn during the close season, has never been capped at under-21 level. But, after proving inspirational in captaining Ireland during the finals of the World under-20 championship in Malaysia, it was thought he might be in line for promotion.

Instead, Evans will again look to Gareth Farrelly, who leads the side, Willie Boland and Stephen Finnan to build a platform for success in the midfield area.

The withdrawal through injury of Stephen Carr, a regular member of Tottenham's Premiership team last season, deprives the Irish manager of one of his most experienced players, but he still believes he has the resources to prevail.

"It's a strong team with good balance and I am hopeful that we will be strong enough to get players forward to support the front two, Rory de Lap and Neale Fenn."

After losing at home to Iceland the odds are against Ireland qualifying, but a good performance in Romania last April - when they were unlucky to lose 1-0 - suggests that all may not yet be lost.

To reach the finals, Ireland must win their remaining three matches and then depend on the leaders, Romania, losing to either Macedonia or Iceland before coming to Dublin for their final game in November.

"It's all a bit uncertain at the moment but the first priority is to win our remaining games," said Evans. "That could set us up for a very big match against Romania to decide who goes through."