King enjoys bubbly debut
Noel King
Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Noel King revelled in watching "champagne football" as he celebrated his debut game in charge with a thumping win.
King's team crushed Estonia 5-0 for their first competitive victory since November 2007, a run that recently brought to an end the 10-year reign of Don Givens.
"Three points and a clean sheet is what we were looking for, but we got a bit of champagne football at the end," said King, previously at the helm of all of the womens' teams for the Republic.
"The last 15 minutes were unbelievable. But fair play to the lads, their attitude was great, they stuck to their task and played well.
"In the opening 10 minutes we could have been a goal or two down, and at the start of the second half we could have conceded a goal.
"So there's plenty of work to be done, we won't be getting carried away with anything, but this was certainly very encouraging.
"I don't want to take any credit, but that was a performance they put together. They were really good and they deserved their win."
Press Association
