Sligo Rovers defender Seamie Coleman looks set to retain his position in Ireland’s U21 rearguard ahead of their European Championship double header against Bulgaria and Portugal at the beginning of September.

The Former St Catherine’s star impressed during the full 90 minutes for the Republic of Ireland in last week’s 1-1 friendly draw with Austria in Vienna when a late Austrian goal cruelly denied the Irish victory.

That performance was enough to convince manager Don Givens to keep the talented Sligo Rovers lad in the squad ahead of those matches. Speaking to the Donegal Post this week, the Killybegs native expressed his satisfaction with the performance but did rue that late error that denied the Irish an impressive away win.

“On a personal level it was great to get the first start under the belt and we played very well up until the last kick of the game, but we switched off for a moment and it ended up costing us.”

“These games are being used to look at players coming through ahead of the next European Championship qualifying campaign so its really about giving that new age group experience before then.”

Manager Don Givens was also pleased with the result. He said “We brought a very young team; the Austrians were all two years older and a lot more experienced. They were one of the first teams to qualify for the European Championships, so to bring a young team over and get a result is very positive.”

With continued speculation over Coleman’s future, Sligo may be forced to sell their prized asset to ease their current financial burdens. If the Killybegs teenager can add to his previous two caps in September, the proverbial carrot dangled in front of praying eyes cross water may be too tempting to resist, but for the moment Coleman won’t let talk or speculation distract him from the task at hand.

“To be honest I don’t really know what’s happening with the club at the moment. We’ve all heard about the money troubles but it doesn’t really bleed through to the dressing room. At the end of the day we’re just getting on with it and hopefully things work out, but it’s not really our job to worry about money.”

Reporter: Frank Craig