Murray called up by Under-21s (From Watford Observer)

Watford midfielder Sean Murray called up by Republic of Ireland Under-21s

5:37pm Wednesday 16th May 2012 in Watford FC Academy By Frank Smith, Deputy Group Sports Editor

Highly-rated Watford midfielder Sean Murray has been called up to the Republic of Ireland Under-21s squad.

The youngster will represent the Under-19s in their UEFA Championships qualifying tournament (for more click here before joining up with the older group afterwards.

The Under-21s play Denmark in a friendly in Dublin on May 28 and then meet Italy in a Euro Under-21 Championships qualifier in Sligo on June 4.

Former Watford defender Rob Kiernan, who is now at Wigan Athletic, misses out due to the injury which ended his loan at Accrington Stanley.

Under-21 boss Noel King said: "We've assembled a good squad that we will be looking to build on our previous performances. At this stage of the season some players have not played for a couple of weeks so the Denmark game will be extremely important.

"Italy are a very well-prepared side that recently beat Scotland 4-1 in a warm-up game so everything is geared towards being prepared for that fixture."

Under-21 squad: Ian McLoughlin (MK Dons FC), Aaron McCarey (Wolverhampton Wanderers FC), Mark Connolly (Unattached), Shane Duffy (Everton FC), Greg Cunningham (Manchester City FC), Niall Canavan (Scunthorpe United FC), Lanre Oyebanjo (York City FC), John Egan (Sunderland FC), Jeff Hendrick (Derby County FC), Eunan O'Kane (Torquay United FC), Richie Towell (Hibernian FC - on loan from Celtic FC), Aidan White (Leeds United FC), Conor Clifford (Chelsea FC), Samir Carruthers (Aston Villa FC), Conor Hourihane (Plymouth Argyle FC), Sean Murray (Watford), James Collins (Shrewsbury Town FC), Rhys Murphy (Arsenal FC), Aaron Doran (Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC), Robbie Brady (Manchester United FC).