Austria U-19 Women 2-1 Republic of Ireland U-19 Women
The Republic of Ireland Women Under-19s suffered from an inability to build upon an early lead as they lost the first of this week's double-header friendly in Steinbrunn today (Tuesday).
Katie McCabe put Ireland ahead with only 7 minutes on the clock but a succession of spurned chances would ultimately cost them.
Austria rarely threatened Dave Connell's side in the first half, yet equalised from a long-range free-kick on 33 minutes.
And, with that leveller instilling some confidence in the hosts, the crucial third goal of the tie came their way when Simona Koren stole in to grab a 57th minute winner.
There were plenty of lessons learnt from the workout by the squad who face the Austrians again on Thursday.
The pair of games are preparation for the competitive action on March 31-April 5 when the Republic of Ireland face Denmark, Switzerland and elite qualification mini-group hosts Serbia for the one available place in the European Championships in Turkey this July.
"Our starting team showed five changes to the one that played against Hungary in our last qualifier, so the purpose of the game was to see how the new players could cope at this level," said Connell afterwards.
"Based upon the amount of chances created, we really should have been out of sight after a half an hour. Katie McCabe took her goal really well and was unlucky soon after with a shot that came back off the crossbar.
"Austria equalised from their first real chance of the game which galvanised them. We still should have gone on to win the game but there were some excellent performances and overall, I'm happy with how the exercise went."
Republic of Ireland: Grace Maloney (Reading); Ciara O'Connell (Wilton), Jennifer Byrne (Castlebar Celtic), Emma Farmer (Cork), Lauren Murphy (Cork); Lois Roche (Reading), Ciara O'Brien (Wexford Youths), Emma Hansbury (Castlebar Celtic); Katie McCabe (Raheny United), Claire Shine (Cork), Siobhan Killeen (Raheny United).
Substitutions: Carys Johnson (Everton) for O'Connell, Chloe Musaki (Peamount United) for Murphy, Rianna Jarrett (Wexford Youths) for Roche, Jill Maloney (Atlanta Fire) for G. Maloney (all second half). |
