Luton defender makes senior Ireland debut but England run riot in Nations League

Luton defender Mark McGuinness made his senior Republic of Ireland debut during last night’s 5-0 Nations League defeat against England at Wembley Stadium.

The 23-year-old, who had represented his country at U16 to U21 level, was given his first start by head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson for the contest, as the Irish were in the game at the break, with the scores level at 0-0. However, with 51 minutes gone, a wonderful pass from Harry Kane saw Liam Scales trip Jude Bellingham inside the area for a penalty, with the Celtic defender sent off for his second yellow card.

Kane despatched the spot-kick, as the Three Lions were then ruthless, Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon volleying home Tino Livramento's cross at the far post for his first ever England goal, with Conor Gallagher doing likewise just a few minutes later from close range. West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen also opened his account for his country from a clever set-piece on 76 minutes, before Taylor Harwood-Bellis completed the rout with a downward header.

Despite the margin of defeat, McGuinness didn’t let himself down during his first experience on the senior international stage, making six clearances, four tackles, winning two aerial challenges and also blocking one shot too. It wasn’t enough to prevent a chastening defeat for the Hallgrimsson though, the Icelander saying: “I'm kind of lost for words. Six minutes of kind of madness. Yeah, it was a shock, conceding a penalty, conceding a goal, losing a player.

"We probably lost our heads at this moment, leading into a second goal and a third goal. And from there you can see, we maybe lost our heads, gave up. I said before we're struggling with confidence and they clearly took away all confidence from what we did really well in the first half. You cannot explain things like this, it's just happened, a slap in the face and was difficult to come back from it.

"It's easy to sit or stand on the sidelines and criticise. Coming in after that first half, it's a game like we wanted it to be. We're defending compact, they didn't find ways to play through us. And then coming in second half, so early conceding the goal, losing a player, conceding another one. But look, excuses when you lose 5-0, it's kind of pathetic to be excusing or talking about positives. It's embarrassing to lose 5-0."

Going into the game, McGuinness had been looking forward to winning his first cap for his country, adding: “Heimir Hallgrímsson came and watched me at one of my games before I was first called up, we had a good conversation, but I still wasn’t 100 percent sure I was going to get the call-up so that was nice. There’s very strong competition in all positions over the pitch, but I’m aware that centre-halves in this squad are playing week-in-week-out in the Premier League.

"That’s the level that I hope to get to, but right now I’m hoping I can add something different to the squad so hopefully I can do that. I enjoy getting on the ball, we all do, that’s why we play the game. I’m happy to do any role that the gaffer wants me to do, but it’s important that we have a solid foundation to build on.”