Friendly
27.02.2015 at 15:00 - Tallaght Stadium
Paul Doolin’s side ran out comfortable 6-0 winners at the same venue when the sides met last night with Ryan Manning and Jamie McGrath scoring twice each while Dessie Hutchinson and Jack Hallahan also found the net.
Both sides are preparing for next months’ UEFA U19 Championships Elite Qualifying Round and Doolin was very pleased with the attacking display put on by his troops.
“We’ve a few new players that we were having a look at and it’s a change of team again as we never give the impression to any of the squads we have that there is a first XI and a second XI. We want to keep it balanced,” he said.
“I felt that some of the goals we scored were outstanding – Jamie McGrath’s chip to make it 3-0, Jack Hallahan finished off a great move and Ryan Manning also scored a great goal.
“I’d never be disrespectful to Azerbaijan – they qualified for the Elite Phase of the UEFA U19 Qualifiers and have beaten Hungary and Slovenia to qualify. They’ve just back from Finland and have a bit of time together.
“Some of our play was great – absolutely outstanding and defensively it was good conceding no goals. Having said that there are one or two things we can improve upon for the qualifiers.
“All in all, our attacking play has been outstanding. It was a good opportunity for the likes of Ryan, Val Feeney, Liam Kinsella, Billy Murphy, Cieron Keane and Ross Mann all coming in and doing well. It’s good to go into the Elite Phase with a good group – it’s not a bad bunch of players.”
Doolin wants more of the same tomorrow and that performance was very much built on a rapid start to the game when they were putting the Azeri defence under pressure from the off.
“We’ll get back and look to see about putting things right. We’ll look for a good display and we always look for a good performance from the players. Hopefully the rest looks after itself,” said the Irish Head Coach.
“No matter who it is we try to start well. Whether it was Holland here, Sweden away or Switzerland in the qualifiers, we always try to be up and press. If we have the ball we can attack and don’t have to go back.
“In fairness you can’t always go forward. There were spells on Wednesday where they had a chance and Harry Doherty made a good save. All in all I’m happy and looking forward to Friday.”
Republic of Ireland U19:
Liam Bossin (Anderlecht)
Harry Doherty (Brighton)
Kevin Toner (Aston Villa)
Billy Murphy (Bristol City)
Fiacre Kelleher (Celtic)
Timmy Murphy (Cork City)
Harry Charsley (Everton)
Noe Baba (Fulham)
Eoghan Stokes (Leeds United)
Ross Mann (Limerick)
Cieron Keane (Notts County)
Ryan Manning (QPR)
Sean Heaney (Shamrock Rovers)
Dessie Hutchinson (Brighton)
Joel Coustrain (Sheffield United)
Jamie McGrath (St Patrick's Athletic)
Jack Hallahan (West Bromwich Albion)
Josh Cullen (West Ham United)
Liam Kinsella (Walsall)
Val Feeney (Limerick)
Ryan Goldsmith (Cobh Ramblers)
FIXTURES
U19 International Friendlies
Wednesday, February 25
Republic of Ireland 6-0 Azerbaijan, Tallaght Stadium
Friday, February 27
Republic of Ireland v Azerbaijan, Tallaght Stadium (3.00pm)
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