Slovakia 2-2 Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland under-17 manager Noel O’Reilly was delighted with his side’s performance against Slovakia in the opening game of Hungarian International tournament after the youngsters came back from two goals down to earn a creditable draw with Slovakia.
Shelbourne striker Anthony Stokes gave a man-of-the-match performance as he bagged Ireland’s goals and he was unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty right at the end when he appeared to be brought down by the Slovak goalkeeper.
Even though they fell behind Ireland always looked capable of clawing their way back into the match.
Slovakia took the lead midway through the first half and doubled it just minutes after the interval.
Stokes – linked with a move to Manchester United a year ago – gave the Irish hope when he fired home from the edge of the area and just five minutes later he scored a similar effort to give O’Reilly’s side a share of the spoils in temperatures that reached 40 degrees.
Republic of Ireland: Supple (Ipswich Town), Keane (Belvedere), O’Dea (Celtic), Synott (Ipswich Town), McMahon (Home Farm), J.P. Kelly (Liverpool), Gibson (Manchester United), Morris (Leeds United), Stokes (Shelbourne), S. Kelly (Kingdom Boys), Hayes (Reading).
Subs: Reilly (Shelbourne), Flynn (Lifford-Oldtown), Gaynor (Millwall), Clarke (Maymount). |
