There was a very worrying statistic from the Ireland U21 loss to Italy

And not just the scoreline.

The Republic of Ireland U21 side lost 4-1 to Italy last Thursday, leaving them fourth in their group to qualify for the 2017 U21 European Championships with four games to play. They're now seven points behind leaders Italy, with just one team guaranteed to qualify. While the result was obviously bad, and the team undoubtedly want to qualify for the final tournament, U21 football is still about developing players. And this statistic makes for bad reading regarding Ireland's capacity to do so. Just four of the starting XI named by Noel King were born in Ireland. Jack Byrne is from Dublin and is currently on-loan with Cambuur in the Netherlands from Manchester City. Darragh Lenihan is from Dunboyne and plays for Blackburn Rovers, Brian Lenihan is from Cork and plays for Hull City, while Cork City defender Kevin O'Connor is from Wexford.The statistic is worrying not because players who weren't born in Ireland are declaring to play for the national team, but that Ireland seems incapable of producing enough young footballers. When asked about the team relying on players developed by other countries, Ireland senior team manager Martin O'Neill told the Sunday Independent that "it is more of a long-term concern, if that is the right word to use." "That is something we are trying to address. It would be nice to think that in the next couple of years that all the players playing here are born and bred in the Republic but, in the meantime, if these are the certain rules and there is players from other nations dipping into the same sort of thing then I suppose maybe you would have to use that."