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21.02.2017 at 19:30 Maes Tegid Bala Town FC, Wales
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Attendance: |
Iwan Roberts,
Daniel Slawson,
Jordan Pike,
Tyler Aylward,
Owen Williams,
Jack Rimmer,
Andy Vale,
Jack Todd,
Aron Hughes Jones,
Harri Horwood,
Michael George. |
Daniel Houghton
Daniel Grant
Eoin Hunter
Greg Barrett
Dylan Fleming
Leon Hayes
Jordan O Reilly
Lee Jordan
Keith Campbell
Tom Mc Carthy
Karl Fitzsimons
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THE Republic of Ireland U18 Home-based squad ran out impressive 4-0 victors over Wales in the first leg of the John Coughlan Memorial Cup in Bala Town FC's Maes Tegid ground on Tuesday evening.
22nd Feb 2017
Jim Crawford's side showed great attacking intent right from the off and had the home side on the back foot from early on with Daniel Grant firing narrowly over in the sixth minute.
Eoin Hunter came close to breaking the deadlock in the 12th minute when he fired narrowly wide but less than 60 seconds later the Irish took the lead when Grant broke through and drilled the ball past the home keeper Iwan Roberts.
Jordan O'Reilly tested Roberts with a flicked effort from a Grant cross in the 18th minute but four minutes later the Irish went further ahead when Hunter capitalised on a hesitant home defence to slot the ball past the advancing keeper.
Irish captain Karl Fitzsimons fired over in the 38th minute as Crawford's side looked to further stamp their authority on proceedings but the Welsh should have pulled one back when Aron Hughes Jones fired narrowly wide across the face of goal two minutes later.
Grant had an effort saved by Roberts in the second minute of the second half then Fitzsimons shot wide again in the 51st minute and Roberts again denied O'Reilly on the hour.
Wales had come close in the 55th minute when Andy Vale fired a low shot wide of the right-hand post but they were punished when O’Reilly curled home a third Irish goal brilliantly in the 66th minute.
Matthew Barrett came off the bench to volley home a fourth after a corner wasn’t cleared by the Welsh defence and in injury-time the home side had the ball in the net after a Vale shot was saved by keeper Daniel Houghton and Cameron Keetch was flagged offside to rule it out.
The two teams meet again on Thursday at Newtown AFC’s Latham Park (2.00pm) with the Irish 4-0 up going into the second leg.
"Overall I am extremely pleased with what the players have produced here. It's not easy coming together in such a short space of time and trying to learn so much but the players put into practice what we showed them in the meetings, on the training pitch and in analysis," said Crawford.
"It's very rewarding when you see some of the attacking play that we worked on coming off in such fashion but the players deserve great credit for their attitude and willingness to learn and develop themselves. This is a rare opportunity for them to represent their country and we're very pleased with how they've performed.
"Having a commanding lead going into the second game is obviously a nice position to be in but that does not mean we'll accept anything less from the players on Thursday than the approach that they took into this fixture."
WALES: Iwan Roberts, Daniel Slawson, Jordan Pike, Tyler Aylward, Owen Williams (Zebb Edwards, 18), Jack Rimmer, Andy Vale (Samuel Haddon, 90), Jack Todd (Daniel Williams, 60), Aron Hughes Jones, Harri Horwood (Cameron Keetch, HT), Michael George (Samuel Ashworth, 55).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Daniel Houghton, Tom McCarthy, Dylan Fleming, Keith Campbell, Greg Barrett (Thomas Collins, 78), Karl Fitzsimons, Jordan O’Reilly (Jordan Muldoon, 70), Eoin Hunter (Matthew Barrett, 70), Leon Hayes (Arron Legget, 84), Daniel Grant (Mikey Friel, 84), Lee Jordan (Adam Duffy, 54). |
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