Ireland in Saturday International action…23/03/2019

There were four Irish international sides in action today Saturday.

Senior:

The second coming of Mick McCarthy commenced with a ragged one nil victory in Gibraltar on Saturday afternoon when we opened our 2020 European Championship campaign against the hosts in the 2,500 seater Victoria Stadium. The blustery wind and artificial playing surface made the task of playing decent football a huge challenge and we failed the test. In the circumstances, we must be happy to have collected the three points and move on to the challenge which Georgia are likely to present in Dublin on Tuesday night. The winning goal came four minutes into the second half and was scored by Jeff Hendrick, arguably our best player on the day. Just two minutes earlier, Darren Randolph had made an excellent save in his only real action of the evening.
Earlier in the afternoon our Group D opponents Georgia and Switzerland locked horns in Tbilisi with the Swiss scoring two second half goals for victory.
Team:
23. Darren Randolph
2. Seamus Coleman [C]
3. Enda Stevens
4. Shane Duffy
5. Richard Keogh
7. Matt Doherty
8. Sean Maguire
9. David McGoldrick
11. James McClean
13. Jeff Hendrick
17. Conor Hourihane
Substitutes:
1. Keiren Westwood
16. Mark Travers
6. Glenn Whelan
10. Robbie Brady for Doherty 56′
12. Jack Byrne
14. Aiden O’Brien
15. John Egan
18. Josh Cullen
19. Alan Judge
20. James Collins
21. Kevin Long
22. Harry Arter for Maguire 72′

 

Under 19:
Our Under 19 side, under the guidance of Head Coach Tom Mohan, emerged victorious from their second European Championship Elite Stage qualifying match against Azerbaijan in the Kuban Stadium, Krasnodar at 9am (Irish time) this Saturday morning. Ireland won a tough physical encounter by three goals to one. Ireland took the lead four minutes before the half-time break when Tyriek Wright scored the opening goal. Six minutes into the second half, Will Smallbone missed a penalty but Jason Knight put Ireland two up on sixty three minutes before Azerbaijan pulled one back with a follow up goal after Brian Maher had saved the initial penalty. Captain on the day Jonathan Afolabi put the outcome beyond doubt with the third goal on eighty five minutes.
With mini-tournament hosts Russia being held to a scoreless draw by Romania later in the afternoon, Ireland have already qualified for the Finals to be hosted by Armenia in July 2019.
Ireland will take on Russia in their third and final contest at 2pm (Irish time) on Tuesday afternoon.
Team:
1. Brian Maher
2. Andy Lyons
3. Kameron Ledwidge
4. Jack James
5. Oisin McEntee
8. Jason Knight
9. Jonathan Afolabi [C]
10. Will Smallbone
11. Will Ferry
14. Luca Connell
17. Tyriek Wright

Substitutes:
7. Ali Reghba for Wright 79′
12. Mark McGuinness for James 90’+1′
15. Conor Grant for Smallbone 90’+1′
18. Niall Morahan for Connell 90’+3′
19. Festy Ebosele for Ferry 90’+3′

Under 17 Women:
With Head Coach Colin Bell at the helm, our Under 17 Women took on the might of Germany in their second contest at the Elite Qualifying stage of the 2019 European Championship. The match took place at the Oriam-Indoor, National Performance Centre, Edinburgh at 12pm this Saturday afternoon with Germany emerging victorious by two goals to nil.

Team:
 1. Courtney Maguire
 2. Therese Kinnevey
 3. Shauna Brennan
 5. Eabha O’Mahoney [C]
 6. Orla Prendergast
 7. Emily Whelan
 8. Aoibheann Clancy
10. Jessica Ziu
11. Rebecca Cooke
13. Zara Foley
17. Blessing Kingsley

Under 18:
Novice Head Coach Andy Reid took charge of his second Under 18 international contest against Turkey in Istanbul at 10am (Irish time)on Saturday morning and witnessed a much improved performance, in a scoreless draw, after the disappointment of their four nil defeat by the same opposition on Thursday last.

Team:
1. Sean Bohan
3. Jaden Charles
6. Adam O’Reilly
7. Ryan Cassidy
8. Barry Coffey [C]
11. Callum Thompson
12. Max Murphy
13. Ray O’Sullivan
14. Sean Brennan
15. Andrew Spain
18. Donal Higgins