Republic of Ireland suffer European Under-21 Championship qualification blow

The Republic of Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the 2017 European Under-21 Championship hang in the balance after a 3-1 defeat by Lithuania in Vilnius on Friday night.Ireland won their first three qualifiers but lost in Italy last month and must now pick themselves up following a shock result against Group 2's bottom side, who had previously failed to register a point. The Republic fell behind in the 22nd minute when Lukas Spalvis met Vykintas Slivka's left-wing cross with a powerful header which flew over Daniel Rogers and into the net. Conor Wilkinson had already hit the crossbar when he equalised after 44 minutes with a well-hit drive across the goalkeeper, only to see Simonas Stankevicius restore Lithuania's lead a minute later from the edge of the box.Lithuania wrapped up the three points 18 minutes from time courtesy of Donatas Kazlauskas' low strike after being played in by Stankevicius.A miserable night for Noel King's side, who lost Glen Rea to injury just before kick-off and saw Jack Connors limp off early on, was complete when Sean Kavanagh was sent off in the closing stages.

Source: PA