Soccer:Seamus Conneely and Cian Hughton have been named in the Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad for the first time as manager Don Givens made his selections ahead of the two Uefa European Championship home qualifiers against Georgia and Switzerland.

Galway’s United’s Conneely and Lincoln City’s Hughton make the grade alongside the likes of Owen Garvan (Ipswich Town), James McCarthy (Wigan Athletic), Cillian Sheridan (Plymouth Argyle) and Tallaght-native Stephen Gleeson (MK Dons).

Ireland will face Georgia in the Tallaght Stadium on Friday, October 9th before travelling to Waterford to face Switzerland in the RSC on the 13th.

It will be the first Republic of Ireland Under-21 match to take place at the Tallaght Stadium and Givens said he is looking forward to both games.

“We have been playing very well but our problem has been scoring goals,” said the manager. “We have missed a lot of chances and that has been the difference in the two qualifying games to date.

“Against Estonia I felt that we should have won the match comfortably, but we missed a lot of chances and had to settle for a 1-1 draw. Against Georgia and Switzerland we’ll hope to put that right and find our touch in front of goal.

Tickets for both fixtures will be available through Ticketmaster outlets and at www.ticketmaster.ie from tomorrow and are priced at €15 for adults and €5 for under-16s.

Republic of Ireland Under-21 squad (v Georgia & Switzerland):
Shane Redmond, Stephen Henderson, Seamus Conneely, Seamus Coleman, Brendan Moloney, Cian Hughton, Gavin Gunning, Callum Morris, Darren Dennehy, Stephen Gleeson, Owen Garvan, James Berrett, James McCarthy, Alan Judge, Jay O'Shea, Sean Scannell, Cillian Sheridan, James Collins