Republic of Ireland 1-1 Italy
A second half equaliser from highly-rated Liverpool youngster John Paul Kelly, combined with a late penalty save from Ipswich Town goalkeeper Shane Supple, salvaged a point for Ireland from the first game of the quadrangular tournament in the Canary Islands on Tuesday afternoon.
Kelly slid in to finish off a good cross from Reading’s Jonathan Hayes after 65 minutes, cancelling out an early opener from Italy’s Michele Rinaldi.
And Supple kept out a late spot kick to keep Ireland level - although Sean McCaffrey’s youngsters could well have grabbed all three points but for a lack of composure in front of goal late in the game.
Ireland face Spain today (Wednesday) before a meeting with the Canary Islands hosts on Friday.
Republic of Ireland under-17s: Supple (Ipswich Town); Synnott (Ipswich Town), Reilly (Shelbourne), O’Leary (Aberdeen), Fitzgerald (Lourdes Celtic); JP Kelly (Liverpool), Clarke (Ipswich Town), Gaynor (Millwall); Gibson (Manchester United), S Kelly (Kingdom Boys), Chambers (Shelbourne).
Subs: Hayes (Reading) for Synott (20 mins), Naughton (Nottingham Forest) for Fitzgerald (65), Lordan (Ipswich Town) for JP Kelly (88). |
