Striking changes

Under-21 France v Ireland:   Don Givens has made two changes to the Republic of Ireland under-21 side, whose long unbeaten run was ended with a 4-2 defeat in Switzerland, for the game against France this evening in Troyes, the third match of their European Championship qualifiers.

Already without the injured Sunderland striker Stephen Elliott, Givens has opted to replace the side's other forward from that night. Cork's Kevin Doyle loses his place as both Jay Tabb and Daryl Murphy come in.

"Kevin certainly hasn't let us down or anything like that," said Givens after arriving in Paris yesterday. "Nobody has. But Murphy is a bigger lad and gives us something slightly to play with against what I'm expecting to be a very strong French side.

"And Jay has the ability to drop back into the midfield and give a dig out if we start coming under a lot of pressure, because that's often where he's playing at Brentford."

Tottenham's Stephen Kelly will captain the Irish side against a French team based largely around the one that won this year's prestigious Toulon tournament.

The locals, however, have some problems in attack, where three potential first-choice strikers have all been ruled out by injury. In midfield they will also be weakened by the elevation of Rio Antonio Mavuba to the senior line-up.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Henderson (Notts County); Kelly (Tottenham), McCarthy (Manchester City), Fitzgerald (Blackburn Rovers), Capper (Scarborough); Flood (Manchester City), Potter (Liverpool), Whelan (Sheffield Wednesday), McGeady (Celtic); Murphy (Waterford United), Tabb (Brentford).