Derby County midfielder Jason Knight produced an impressive display for the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday evening.


The 21-year-old put in a fine showing, which saw him named as the Player of the Match, as Ireland were beaten 1-0 by Ukraine at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in Group B1 of the UEFA Nations League.

After coming off the bench in their 1-0 loss in Armenia at the weekend, Knight was brought into the starting line-up by Ireland boss Stephen Kenny and played the full 90 minutes as he picked up his 13th cap.


Substitute Viktor Tsygankov's second-half free-kick, two minutes after half-time, proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Knight twice went close to scoring his second international goal on the night, producing a decent save from Andriy Lunin with a well-hit 25-yard shot in the first half and then blasting over late on as Ireland chased an equaliser.

Fellow Ram Festy Ebosele, who is due to leave Derby this summer at the end of his contract to join Italian side Udinese, was included in the matchday squad for the first time on the international stage but was not introduced into the action.

Ireland are back on home soil in the Nations League when they take on Steve Clarke’s Scotland on Saturday 11th June (5pm kick off), whilst they round off a busy set of international fixtures with an away match against Ukraine on Tuesday 14th June (7:45pm kick-off).

Elsewhere on Wednesday, midfielder Krystian Bielik wasn’t involved in Poland’s 6-1 defeat to Belgium in the Nations League.