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Garcia McNulty and Lawal called into Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad

Wolfsburg's Anselmo Garcia McNulty and Watford's Bosun Lawal have been called into the Republic of I...


Garcia McNulty and Lawal calle...

Sport

Garcia McNulty and Lawal called into Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad


Wolfsburg's Anselmo Garcia McNulty and Watford's Bosun Lawal have been called into the Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad by Jim Crawford. 

Getafe's John Joe Patrick Finn Benoa will now miss the upcoming friendlies with Switzerland, Denmark and Australia as the 17-year-old has to sit his exams.

Sheffield Wednesday's Ciaran Brennan is also injured, so he'll miss the matches which will all be held in Marbella.

It gives Garcia McNulty and Lawal the opportunity to wear green at this level.

Garcia McNulty, whose mother is from Clare, recently turned 18 and is a centre-back. He made nine international appearances for the Under 17's and scored goals against Montenegro and Israel in European qualifiers.

Lawal joined Watford from Dublin club St Kevin's Boys and was recently named Watford Academy's Player of the Season.

The squad already includes the talented Ryan Johansson, while League of Ireland quartet Dawson Devoy and Andy Lyons of Bohemians, UCD's Colm Whelan and Bray Wanderers' Brian Maher will hook up with the squad after this weekend's round of fixtures.

Manager Crawford is hoping Finn Benoa can feature in future plans.

“I had a very positive conversation with John Joe and from that discussion, it was clear the appropriate thing to do was to allow him to put his full focus into his upcoming exams.

“He was very excited by the call-up and is looking forward to being involved in the Irish set-up in the near future.

“Unfortunately, Ciaran Brennan hasn’t been able to make the trip as he’s sick and we wish him a speedy recovery.

“We decided to bring in Bosun, who has done very well at Watford’s academy this season, and Anselmo Garcia MacNulty who likewise has performed well for Wolfsburg this campaign. It’s an opportunity for both players to impress in training.”

First up is Switzerland on Sunday (May 30th), before the Boys in Green take on Australia on Tuesday (June 1st) and then Denmark the following Saturday (June 5th).

The games will be seen as preparation for the 2023 European Championship qualifiers against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Luxembourg in September.



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