Ipswich Town duo Sammie Szmodics and Dara O'Shea started for the Republic of Ireland in their final match of the Nations League group stages.

The Boys in Green came into the game knowing that they were guaranteed a third-place finish, setting them up for a relegation play-off next March where they'll hope to avoid demotion to League C.

However, they were still keen to put in a strong performance against the Three Lions and dent their rivals' hopes of securing top spot in Group 2. In the end, it wasn't to be.

A competitive start saw the two sides head into the break level at 0-0, but it all capitulated for Heimir Hallgrímsson's side when Harry Kane played a sumptuous ball into the box for Jude Bellingham, who was subsequently brought down inside the box by Liam Scales.

To make matters worse, the Celtic defender was then sent off, with Kane dispatching the spot kick in the 53rd minute.

Dara O'Shea completed the match despite his back injuryDara O'Shea completed the match despite his back injury (Image: PA)

The floodgates opened. Anthony Gordon and Conor Gallagher both found the back of the net before the hour-mark, with West Ham skipper Jarrod Bowen adding a fourth before debutant Taylor Harwood-Bellis planted a header past Caoimhin Kelleher to make it 5-0.

Szmodics was brought off for Leicester City winger Kasey McAteer in the 86th minute while O'Shea played the full match despite battling a nasty back injury that he picked up against West Ham last month. The former now has 10 caps to his name while the latter has 32.

The result means that Lee Carsley has secured promotion to Nations League A in his final group stage game, while Greece will go through the promotion play-offs after finishing second.

International duty is now over for Szmodics and O'Shea, who'll make the short trip back to Suffolk today ahead of Sunday's match against Manchester United. They'll discover their Nations League relegation play-off opponents on Friday, November 22nd, where they'll be drawn against one of the second-placed teams from League C.

Four Town players could earn caps this evening, with England Under-21s (Liam Delap and Omari Hutchinson), Kosovo (Arijanet Muric) and Scotland (Cieran Slicker) all in action.