International Friendly Report: Republic of Ireland U19s 3 - 1 Austria U19s

Republic of Ireland U19s edged a thrilling encounter with Austria U19s at Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday afternoon with a 3-1 win after Austria were reduced to ten men in the first half.

Tom Mohan’s men made it two wins from two with goals from Thomas Byrne, Zach Elbouzedi and Jayson Molumby as they came back from an early Albin Ramadani goal.

In stark contrast to the senior team’s match in Belgrade the previous evening, conditions were glorious for this International in Tallaght Stadium. The heat seemed to dictate a slow opening from both sides as they struggled to develop any patterns of possession in the early stages.

In fact, the first real opening of the game saw the first goal as Austria took a fortuitous lead when Ramadani latched onto a loose ball unleashing a shot from 30 yards that was deflected by Ireland defender Dara O’Shea beyond a stretched Mark Travers after 12 minutes.

Ireland thereafter began to develop into the game as Simon Power was beginning to get a foothold in the game. It was his cross which gave Ireland their first opportunity of note after 22 minutes, when Tyreke Wilson shot over when he received the cross on the left hand side of the box.

Ireland’s good play eventually reaped its rewards when Thomas Byrne levelled after getting on the end of a ball over the top and he took advantage of hesitation from Emmanuel Ponholzer to take it around him and finish coolly after 26 minutes.

Despite the good pressure and equaliser, Ireland succumbed to a number of chances for Oliver Filip at the half hour mark as two great blocks on separate occasions from O’Shea and later O’Keefe saved them from going two down.

Filip then had a great chanced saved superbly by Travers down low after his powerful shot from just inside the Irish box.

Ireland however took the lead as Zach Elbouzedi benefited a minute later from some horrendous Austrian defending to break into box and coolly finish past a helpless Ponholzer.

Austria should have been level after 40 minutes when Travers made a howler of his own to gift Florian Hainka the ball, but his shot from the edge of the six-yard box somehow missed the target.

Things went from bad to worse for Austria as they were reduced to ten men two minutes later after a moment of madness from goal scorer Ramadani. He lashed out firstly at Dara O’Shea, before launching a second attack on him with his head to receive his marching orders.

The second half failed to retain the eventful nature of the first half initially before two quick chances on either side on the hour mark. Travers saved well from Sandi Lovric before Ireland broke with Tyreke Wilson having a shot blocked in the Austria box.

Ireland should have had the game killed off on the 75 minute mark when Elbouzedi broke into the box, taking it around Ponholzer, only to be taken down with the goal at his mercy. Ben Connolly however, showed the Irishman a yellow card for diving.

Austria nearly made Ireland pay when Filip was clear down the left before he put Patrick Schmidt in six yards out, but his shot bounced back off the crossbar!

They were left to rue the miss however, as Ireland finally got a third when Wilson unselfishly squared to Jayson Molumby for an open goal after an Irish counter-attack to kill the game off.

Following Sunday night’s 1-0 win, Mohan will be delighted to have done the double over a team containing players from Dinamo Zagreb and Bayern Munich.

Republic of Ireland U19s: Mark Travers, Corey O’Keefe (Conor Masterson, 64), Zach Elbouzedi, Dara O’Shea, Conor Kane, Darragh Leahy, Jayson Molumby, Thomas Byrne, Thomas O’Connor (Conor Levingston, 68), Tyreke Wilson, Simon Power.

Subs not used: Caoimhin Kelleher, JJ Lunney, Michael O’Connor.

Yellow Cards: Byrne (50),  T. O’Connor (52), Elbouzedi (74).

Austria U19s: Emmanuel Ponholzer, Mario Goic (Ceyhun Tuccar, 74), Albin Ramadani, Marcel Cerny (Marco Friedl, 59), Dominik Reiter (Patrick Schmidt, 27), Oliver Filip, Florian Hainka, Paul Sahanek, Manuel Thurnwald (Alexander Kogler, 59), Florian Prirsch, Sandi Lovric.

Subs not used: Fabian Ehmann, Michael Augustin.

Yellow Cards: Basara (90 +1).

Red Cards: A. Ramadani (44).

Referee: Ben Connolly (IRL).

Attendance: 300 (Estimate).

Extratime Man of the Match: Jayson Molumby (Republic of Ireland under 19s).