Republic of Ireland under-21 boss Don Givens was pleased with the effort from his side against England last night, despite the 3-0 scoreline at Turner's Cross.

Givens saw his side go behind early on thanks to Mark Noble before the West Ham midfielder added his second and a deflected effort from James Milner made it three inside half an hour.

"It's never happened to me before, going 3-0 down and feeling like the better team," he said after the game.  "In the first 45 minutes I wouldn't have swapped their players for mine."

Givens' side threatened through Anthony Stokes, who is fighting for a place at Sunderland and with Steve Staunton's senior squad.

His strike partner Adam Rooney of Chesterfield also forced goalkeeper Joe Hart into a string of saves, while Ipswich Town's Billy Clarke was a constant menace on the left handside.

England coach Stuart Pearce hailed the cutting edge of his youngsters but conceded his side were given a thorough examination of their Euro 2009 credentials.

"It wasn't easy," he said. "But we took our chances when they arose. I think we created our own good fortune.

"It was not one-way traffic so we made it easier with our finishing.

"There were one or two scares but we had that cutting edge on the break."

England maintained their 100 per cent record in Group Three, while Ireland have now been defeated in their first two matches of the campaign, after losing to Portugal away.

Noble was sounded out by the FAI earlier in his career as his grandparents are Irish, but he turned them down as he wanted to play for England.

He was suspended for the qualifier against Montenegro last Friday but was back in Pearce's starting XI at Cork City's ground.

"From my point of view, he made the right choice," said Pearce. "He's a big part of this group and was disappointed to be watching the game on Friday through suspension."

Noble lobbed home the first in the 10th minute after Darren Randolph fumbled, then he beat the goalkeeper with a crisper finish seven minutes later. Milner sealed the win in the 26th minute when his effort was deflected in off Darren O'Dea.

"I was delighted with the performance," Pearce said. "They were sensational.

"Whenever you take the field against an Irish team and you are wearing the Three Lions, you know what you are going to get from the opposition.

"We matched them for endeavour and had the cutting edge."