Gillingham's Conor McManus scores as Republic of Ireland Under-21s claim historic win over England

McManus was named in the starting XI for the Republic of Ireland Under-21s, who came storming back from a goal down to sink Lee Carsley's two-time European champions, who had already booked their passage through to the tournament finals as winners of qualification Group D.

Ireland needed to equal or better the result of rivals Slovakia, who on paper had a much easier task with an away game in Andorra, in order to secure qualification, and after seven minutes their prospects looked bleak when England's Tyler Dibling fired England into an early lead.

But, with a packed crowd at Turner's Cross roaring them on, Ireland played their way back into the match with Tommy Lonergan equalising on 21 minutes.

Then, on 38 minutes, McManus made a late run into the England penalty area to latch onto a Trent Kone-Doherty pass and fire low past Tommy Setford in the England goal to put Ireland 2-1 ahead.

Lonergan added a third midway through the second half with his second of the night to give the Irish side a cushion, and they held England at bay for the remainder of the match to run out 3-1 winners and secure second place in the group.

That means McManus and his Republic of Ireland teammate go into the hat for the two-legged qualification play-offs, where they'll join fellow second-place finishers Greece, Finland, Denmark, Turkey, Netherlands, Czechia, and Iceland.