Brighton’s Aaron Connolly carves up China for Ireland U21s

Brighton & Hove Albion winger Aaron Connolly scored a goal and registered an assist during the Republic of Ireland U21s' 4-1 win over China on Monday.

Republic of Ireland started their 2019 Maurice Revello Toulon Tournament with a comfortable win over China as goals from Connolly, Zach Elbouzedi and a brace from Adam Idah was enough to see Stephen Kenny's side through their opening match. https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status/1135788271345311744 Connolly set up Elbouzedi with a dazzling run down the left wing before scoring himself later in the half when he got on the end of a Dara O'Shea header. Ireland U21 manager Stephen Kenny has been happy with his side's performances and insists that he wants his players to show his potential.

"We're delighted to start the tournament with a win, it's huge credit to the players who have worked really hard since coming into camp on Tuesday," said U-21 boss Stephen Kenny. "This Chinese team have had some good performances and we've watched them play very well, so the goals were at critical times for us and maybe made it look easier than it could have been. "We've got great Irish players and we really want them to show the potential that they've got, their ability and I think we can take great encouragement from what we've seen today. We've got Mexico next and that will be a really tough match, but we can take a lot of confidence into Tuesday."