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13.04.2008 at 12:00 Whitehall
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Attendance: |
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Ireland Under 19 |
3 - 2
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Russia
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Referee: Hilda McDermott |
Friendly-match |
Republic of Ireland 3-2 Russia
The Republic of Ireland Women's Under 19 side surrendered a 2-0 half time lead after the break but Dundalk City striker, Stephanie Roche popped up to give Susan Ronan's side a deserved victory with three minutes remaining.
The Irish went into this game against a strong Russian side on the back of a hard fought 2-0 victory on Friday evening against their opponents. The Irish started well and they were ahead in the 13th minute after Stella Maris starlet, Amy Ryan ran on to a clever through-ball from the Irish midfield, her powerful shot was parried by Kochneva in the Russian goal and her fellow Stella Maris team mate, Aine O' Gorman had the simple task of tapping home from three yards out.
Noelle Murray almost doubled the scores five minutes later, the Irish were awarded a free kick at the centre of the 18 yard box and Murray blasted the ball low and hard to the keepers right which she brilliantly pushed on to the post and out for a corner.
The Irish were in total control of the game and a moment of brilliance from the Irish attack allowed Amy Ryan to score her fifth goal in three games. Dundalk's Gillian McDonnell played a cutting ball through the Russian defence and Ryan was on hand to apply a neat finish to the bottom right hand corner of the net.
With an hour played in the game, five key minutes would bring Russia back on level scores with Susan Ronan's side. The Russians were awarded a free-kick at the centre of the 18 yard line, Russian midfielder, Nelli Korovkina stepped up and blasted the ball to the right of the Irish wall leaving substitute keeper, Niamh Reid-Burke no chance in the Irish goal.
With 65 minutes on the clock, the Russians were awarded another free-kick in an almost identical position, this time Korovkina stepped up and drifted her effort to Reid-Burke's left and she was helpless as the ball nestled into the top corner.
As the Irish re-grouped and stepped up a number of gears, the front pairing of Amy Ryan and Stephanie Roche were influential, in the 80th minute, the two linked up and Roche found herself through on goal but Kochneva pulled off a dramatic save to keep the scores level.
Two minutes later, Roche capitalised on some slack marking in the Russian box but as she blasted home from close range, she was judged offside by the officials.
Stephanie Roche secured the victory with just three minutes remaining, the Irish were awarded a free kick on the right wing which was whipped in by Grace Murray to the feet of her Dundalk team-mate, Roche who was given time and space in the six yard box and she made no mistake with her finish as she dinked it over the hapless keeper.
This week, Susan Ronan will announced her 18 strong squad for the UEFA Championship Elite Qualifying phase which will see the Irish face the Netherlands, Spain and Serbia as they bid to qualify for their very first UEFA Championship finals.
The UEFA Championship Elite Qualifying phase will take place in Madrid, Spain from the 24th - 29th April and only the top team will qualify for the eight nation final tournament which will be held in France this summer.
The Irish go into the elite qualifying phase as 1st seeds with a 100% record in the first qualifying phase after wins against Croatia, Slovakia and Switzerland.
Republic of Ireland: Lynn Bradley, Grace Murray, Catriona McGilp, Susan Hackett (C), Lynn-Marie Grant, Noelle Murray, Jadine Madden, Amy Ryan, Gillian McDonnell, Karen Duggan, Aine Marie O Gorman
Substitutes: Niamh Reid-Burke (GK) (on for Bradley, 45 Mins), Anna McCormack, Julie Ann Russell (on for McDonnell, 63 Mins), Amanda Parkes, Stephanie Roche (on for Madden, 45 Mins), Rachel Graham, Lucy Hannon, Kathleen Mullins, Eilish Ward
Russia: Elena Kochneva, Yekaterina Gokhman Lazereva, Oxana Ryabinicheva, Nelli Korovkina, Natalia Bakulina, Tamara Starovoytova, Yulia Zapotichnaya
Elena Matyushina, Ekaterina Dmitrenko, Natalia Osilova, Lina Yakupova
Substitutes: Natalia Kamasheva (GK), Elena Blokhina, Oxana Seletskaya, Anna Remennaya, Natalia Ploskonenko, Alevtina Zurova, Elena Volodina |
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