Friendly
18.12.2014 at 15:00 - Complexo Desportivo, Bonitos
REPUBLIC of Ireland U18 Head Coach Paul Doolin will be looking for another pleasing performance when his side faces Portugal in the second of two friendly games in Bonitos tomorrow (3.00pm).
The Irish youngsters were very unlucky not to get at least a draw when the sides met yesterday. After being level at the break Ireland conceded two second half goals but also had a penalty well saved, a goal disallowed and hit the home side's crossbar.
While some may judge a side solely on its results, Doolin feels that at this age the priorities are about bedding in his preferred playing style, working with the players for the first time and taking the first steps towards next season's competitive games in the UEFA U19 Championship qualifiers.
"We spoke to the players today after looking back at yesterday’s game and there are just a few things we’re looking for that they may not really be used to doing that often with their clubs," he explained.
"What was pleasing was that we created a few chances but at this level you are looking at the need to put some of them away. Having said that we were playing a very good Portuguese side so it was pleasing to do as well as we did attacking wise.
"When you consider that we won a penalty, hit the crossbar and had a goal disallowed plus we also put in quite a few dangerous balls into the box that nobody got on the end of there wasn't an awful lot wrong with what we were doing going forward."
Doolin will look at utilising some of the nine players who did not start yesterday's game when the sides meet again tomorrow afternoon and he is interested to see how all the players cope with the level.
"It can be a big step up. We come up against really strong players - physically strong and very good players at the same time," he added.
"We don’t look at the results at this particular level, how could you with basically just two hours of training as a group? We never do with the U18s. It’s virtually impossible to go in thinking it’s all about getting a result against a country like Portugal.
"The thing for us is that they get used to what we’re looking for with the real games. We speak to them about physical conditioning and general fitness as it’s a big ask for them at U19 level."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U18 SQUAD:
Matthew Connor (Waterford United)
Evan Moran (West Bromwich Albion)
Colm Deasy (Southampton)
Anthony Dolan (Fulham)
Jack Tuite (Derby County)
Nathan Benson (Shamrock Rovers)
Ross Taheny (Sligo Rovers)
Stephen Best (Bohemians)
Evan Osam (Shamrock Rovers)
George Poynton (Dundalk)
Kyron Farrell (Millwall)
Adam McDonnell (Ipswich Town)
Antaine O Laoi (Salthill Devon)
Graham Kelly (Sheffield United)
Shane Elworthy (Fulham)
Nathan Corkery (QPR)
Frankie Mulhern (Leeds United)
Richard Purdy (Shamrock Rovers)
Troy Carey (UCD AFC)
Khius Metz (Burnley)
Malike Benrouguibi (Bohemians)
FIXTURES & RESULTS
Tuesday, December 16
U18 International Friendly
Portugal 2-0 Republic of Ireland, Estádio Municipal, Abrantes
Thursday, December 18
U18 International Friendly
Portugal v Republic of Ireland, Complexo Desportivo, Bonitos (3.00pm)
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