Derby County’s Festy Ebosele made his debut for the Republic of Ireland’s Under-21 side on Sunday.


Attacking right-back Ebosele, and fellow Derby team-mate Louie Watson, were named in the starting line-up as Ireland were beaten 2-0 by Switzerland in a friendly fixture in Spain.

Ebosele, who is 18 and previously capped at various youth levels for Ireland, played 77 minutes before being replaced.

Creative midfielder Watson, 19, registered 70 minutes of action on his second appearance at Under-21 level.

Leonidas Stergiou put Switzerland ahead in the first half, while Gabriel Bares netted in the second period to round off the scoring.

The Derby duo linked up with the Ireland Under-21 group earlier this week at their training base in Marbella ahead of three friendly matches during the next week.

Jim Crawford’s side will also face Australia on Wednesday 2nd June and Denmark on Saturday 5th June on their two other friendlies.