Shane Lowry's end of season action came to a close as the Republic of Ireland Under-21s were beaten 3-1 by Australia in the semi-finals of Malaysia's Intercontinental Cup.

The 18-year-old Villa defender played every single minute of Ireland's four games in the tournament as most countries fielded Under-23 sides.

Coach Don Givens was pleased with his young charges who went into the Australia game missing several key players through illness.

He said: "Overall, I'm happy with the performance of my players. It was a pity that the illness has to get in the way over the last day but some of those youngsters really took their chance and impressed me."