UEFA UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIPS/Rep of Ireland v Estonia:LESLIE POLES HARTLEY first coined the phrase, "the past is a foreign country". Noel King will be hoping the Republic of Ireland under-21 team can buy into that concept.

King’s first game in charge of the under-21s, since replacing Don Givens, is a winnable Uefa Championship clash with Estonia at Tallaght Stadium tonight (7.30pm).

But considering how often the Irish have failed to perform at this age level, King is too shrewd to expect anything less than a test against the Estonians.

The Group Two table shows Ireland sitting at the bottom, winless in seven attempts, with the former women’s international team manager hoping to correct that anomaly, sooner rather than later.

“I’m starting fresh and every player is starting fresh. What happened in the past happened in the past and I’ve no comment on that,” he said.

“It won’t be the be-all and end- all but it’s important to get off to a good start. Winning is important to everybody but whether we can do that is another thing.

“Everybody looks at them and says ‘you should beat them’ but they’ve beaten Turkey and Switzerland and drawn with us already.” King will be able to utilise players with senior international experience tonight in Cillian Sheridan, Eddie Nolan, James McCarthy, Anthony Stokes and Stephen Gleeson.

King has already sounded out senior boss Giovanni Trapattoni about where the Italian sees the under-21s in relation to the top team.

“I’ve spoken to Trapattoni. He’s fully supportive and I’m very pleased.”

King will not name his team until before kick-off but has not been instructed to restrict the likes of Sheridan or Stokes to a certain amount of minutes due to their potential involvement against Argentina tomorrow.