LUX KILL AS JIM BITES BACK

Ireland U-21 Luxembourg U-21 Tallaght Stadium, 5.15pm

MARK MCCADDEN

JIM CRAWFORD has hit back at Galway United boss John Caufield describing the suggestion that Ireland should forfeit next week’s Smpaotrchtintimtolnetenegro

as “not in our DNA”.

Caulfield blasted the decision to draft in 13 uncapped League of Ireland stars for the trip to Podgorica - claiming the players were being used as “guinea pigs.”

And he added: “If we can’t get a team out to Montenegro then we should forfeit the match.”

Under-21 boss Crawford has been forced to effectively name two squads for this evening’s home clash against Luxembourg and next Tuesday’s away game.

That’s because Montenegro is on both the UK’S and Germany’s Covid red-list - meaning anyone travelling from there would have to quarantine for two weeks upon returning home.

So with seven League of Ireland players in his original squad, he has had to draft in 13 more to fill out his panel, in the event that the British and German restrictions remain.

One of those who arrived at the squad’s Castleknock Hotel base yesterday was Galway’s Alex Murphy.

And his club boss was quick to criticise the situation.

However, Crawford defended his actions and said he would have walked away from the Tribesmen chief if the idea of a forfeit had been suggested in his presence.

“What did I make of them [Caulfield’s comments]?” Crawford asked. “Being honest, I thought they were a little bit outdated.

“We’re doing our best to promote the league. The initial squad had six or seven players from our league in the group.

“Now all of a sudden we were told by UEFA that we had to play a home-based group.

“So, I’m bringing in home-based players that are playing in their first teams, that are quality players, that will come and experience playing with the 21s in a competitive campaign.

“It’s an experience that they will never forget and nobody can take that away from them.

“They will come here and they will learn. And they will enjoy it.”