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14.02.2017 at 15:00 La Manga Club, Murcia
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Attendance: |
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Slovakia |
3 - 1
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Rep of Ireland Under 19 |
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Referee: |
Tournament-match |
Gabbia 45+1 mins,
Frattesi 50 mins,
Varnier 72 mins |
None. |
THE Republic of Ireland U19 side went down to a disappointing 3-1 defeat by Slovakia at the 12th U19 National Team Tournament in La Manga this afternoon.
19s Team v Slovakia 140217.jpeg
14th Feb 2017
Both sides ended up being reduced to ten men in a scrappy encounter which brought the tournament to a close for Tom Mohan's side.
The highlight of the four-team event from an Irish perspective was Sunday's 1-0 win over Portugal and Mohan started just three of the players that were in the starting line-up against the Portuguese.
After a disjointed start to the game Slovakia had threatened a couple of times from set-pieces before they took the lead in the 22nd minute in unusual circumstances when Viktor Jedinak charged down a clearance by Irish keeper Lee McCarron and the ball ended up rebounding into the net.
Ireland had a let off in the 26th minute when a snap shot from the edge of the box by Christian Herc flew narrowly wide.
Matters took a turn for the worst for the Irish when Barry Cotter was shown a red card for a second bookable offence in the 36th minute although the contact in the challenge was minimal.
Denis Baumgartner shot narrowly wide from ten yards out in the 38th minute as the Slovaks looked to put the game away then just over a minute later McCarron got down well to hold a long-range strike from Herc.
McCarron then dived bravely at the feet of Jedinak to deny the Slovaks a second goal on the stroke of half-time.
After weathering the storm Ireland equalised in the 54th minute when captain Darragh Leahy got his head to a free-kick fired in by Josh Barrett from the right flank and steered the ball home from eight yards out.
Unfortunately the Irish resolve was broken once again in the 65th minute when a short corner saw Samuel Kozlovsky head to the Irish net from a Martin Adamec delivery.
Michael O’Connor drew the best from Slovak keeper Martin Vantruba in the 69th minute when he dived full stretch to push a powerful strike around his right post after a Barrett free-kick was only cleared to the edge of the box.
McCarron got down well to deal with a low strike from Herc in the 72nd minute. Then the sides were even in terms of numbers when Slovakia’s Baumgartner was shown a red card for a dangerous challenge.
Unfortunately for the Irish they conceded again when another short corner saw Adamec cross from the right and Kristian Vallo fired home the loose ball from the edge of the box after the defence failed to clear the danger.
Ireland's focus now will be on next month's UEFA Elite Qualifying Round when they have a tough draw including Italy, Sweden and Belgium, who will host the mini-tournament.
Irish head coach Tom Mohan was disappointed with the result but felt that the week at La Manga will prove beneficial in preparation for next month's challenge.
"We were down to the bare bones today with six of the squad being unavailable for a variety of reasons and we were looking to give people game but the most important thing this week was to see players in game regardless of results," said Mohan.
"We didn't perform to the level we expect in the first half and that's the reality but in the second half the boys did really well especially with ten men. The concession of the second goal was a killer.
"We conceded a soft first goal then went down to ten men in the first half so that was a huge test but we regrouped at half-time and limited their chances and got back to 1-1 and I felt we were going well then we conceded a goal from a corner kick.
"We'll reflect positively on our transitions to attack when we had a couple of half-decent chances to get to 2-2 then when you are chasing the game you are open to being caught and that's what happened late on.
"We got what we wanted out of it this week. It's been a great opportunity to look at players and it has been good preparation for what we're going into. There's been a lot of positives with individual displays and we know where we are ahead of the UEFA Elite Phase."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Lee McCarron, Shane Hanney, Barry Cotter, Darragh Leahy, Trevor Clarke, JJ Lunney, Thomas O’Connor, Jayson Molumby, Anthony Scully, Josh Barrett, Michael O’Connor. Subs: Ronan Hale for Scully 46, Conor Kane for Molumby 46, Tyreke Wilson for Clarke 46.
RESULTS
La Manga Invitational Tournament
Friday, February 10
Republic of Ireland 1-2 Norway, La Manga Club, Murcia
Sunday, February 12
Republic of Ireland 1-0 Portugal, La Manga Club, Murcia
Tuesday, February 14
Republic of Ireland 1-3 Slovakia, La Manga Club, Murcia |
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