Ireland u19's 1 - 0 Ukraine u19's
Credit:
A Ryan Connolly goal at Frank Cooke Park in north Dublin was enough
to divide the Republic of Ireland and the Ukraine in the second of
this weeks’ two Under 19 friendly Internationals.
Things opened well for the Republic and with a few punters still coming through the gates Stephen McDonnell forced Ukrainian ‘keeper Artur Denchuk into a fine save from a sweet free kick after Tipperary native Michael Rafter had been upended on the edge of the box.
Rafter showed a lot of running in the first half playing as the lone striker, and set up Ryan Connolly after the quarter hour mark but the Derby midfielder never threatened Denchuk’s goal and his shot sailed over.
The Ukrainians were content to soak up rather than go in search of the early possession and it took all of a half an hour before they threatened, albeit from a rather wasteful long range free-kick from Vladislav Calitvintsev.
Ireland boss Sean McCaffrey will view the two games as no doubt a beneficial exercise running up to the UEFA Under-19 qualification campaign that kicks off in October with preliminary games to be played against Serbia and Luxembourg. With the majority of his side based in England, McCaffrey took the opportunity to introduce some home based players for the Under 19s first meet up of the season and Dundalk’s Stephen McDonnell in particular looked impressive in the first half, spraying some early passes from midfield. Salthill Devon’s Daryl Horgan also showed for plenty of ball and in the 43rd minute the Galway native set up Jeff Hendrick, who shot with power but straight at the Ukrainian shot stopper.
Half-time saw a number of changes in the Ireland line up with the manager bringing on five substitutions. One of them, Patrick McEleney put a firm mark on the outcome when he sent Ryan Connolly clear nine minutes in. Connolly settled himself, checking his run, before shooting past the out rushing Denchuk. From Castlebar, the midfielder has just signed professional papers with Derby and has already made his first team debut (the final game of last season). The healthy crowd in Glasnevin were shown just why Nigel Clough has shown faith in the youngster.
Liam Irwin, son of Dennis, showed a nice touch and vision in the pass on one or two occasions playing in central midfield after he had replaced Shamrock Rovers’ Craig Walsh at the interval.
The Ukraine did show the odd glimpse of class in possession but lacked a real cutting edge in the final third. Oleksandr Karavaev was guilty of two spurned chances in the latter stages here, the best coming on 70 minutes after being presented with a clean header in the box following Ivanko’s corner.
Declan Walker shot well over with a tame free kick twelve minutes from time in a half that Ireland had the majority of possession in, if not shooting opportunities.
The eastern Europeans did hit the net in the 89th but Dynamo Kiev’s Volodimir Koval was adjudged to have been offside when he struck past McDermott.
As the clock ran down an unfortunate incident ended the game when Ukrainian midfielder Roman Mochulenko was stretchered off and subsequently brought to the Mater Hospital after an accidental clash right at the death.
Rep.Ireland: Aaron McCarey (Sean McDermott HT); Anthony O’Connor (Declan Walker HT), Joe Shaughnessy, John Egan, Eoghan Osbourne; Daryl Horgan (Shane Byrne HT), Jeff Hendrick, Craig Walsh (Liam Irwin HT), Stephen McDonnell (Patrick McEleney HT), Ryan Connolly (Daryl Horgan 82‘); Michael Rafter (Robbie Brady 71‘)
Ukraine: Arthur Denchuk; Oleksandr Karavaev, Ivan Ordets, Oleksandr Noiok, Artem Shabanov; Roman Mochulenko, Vladislav Calitvintsev(Vyacheslav Churko HT), Volodimir Koval, Igor Ozarkiv, Vitaliy Ivanko; Pylyp Budkivskiy
Booked: Calitvintsev (88’), Koval (90’)
Subs not used: Ievgen Galchuk, Ruslan Babenko, Vitaliy Ryabusthko, Oleksandr Nasonov, Anton Dolhiy,
Referee: Richie Winter
Things opened well for the Republic and with a few punters still coming through the gates Stephen McDonnell forced Ukrainian ‘keeper Artur Denchuk into a fine save from a sweet free kick after Tipperary native Michael Rafter had been upended on the edge of the box.
Rafter showed a lot of running in the first half playing as the lone striker, and set up Ryan Connolly after the quarter hour mark but the Derby midfielder never threatened Denchuk’s goal and his shot sailed over.
The Ukrainians were content to soak up rather than go in search of the early possession and it took all of a half an hour before they threatened, albeit from a rather wasteful long range free-kick from Vladislav Calitvintsev.
Ireland boss Sean McCaffrey will view the two games as no doubt a beneficial exercise running up to the UEFA Under-19 qualification campaign that kicks off in October with preliminary games to be played against Serbia and Luxembourg. With the majority of his side based in England, McCaffrey took the opportunity to introduce some home based players for the Under 19s first meet up of the season and Dundalk’s Stephen McDonnell in particular looked impressive in the first half, spraying some early passes from midfield. Salthill Devon’s Daryl Horgan also showed for plenty of ball and in the 43rd minute the Galway native set up Jeff Hendrick, who shot with power but straight at the Ukrainian shot stopper.
Half-time saw a number of changes in the Ireland line up with the manager bringing on five substitutions. One of them, Patrick McEleney put a firm mark on the outcome when he sent Ryan Connolly clear nine minutes in. Connolly settled himself, checking his run, before shooting past the out rushing Denchuk. From Castlebar, the midfielder has just signed professional papers with Derby and has already made his first team debut (the final game of last season). The healthy crowd in Glasnevin were shown just why Nigel Clough has shown faith in the youngster.
Liam Irwin, son of Dennis, showed a nice touch and vision in the pass on one or two occasions playing in central midfield after he had replaced Shamrock Rovers’ Craig Walsh at the interval.
The Ukraine did show the odd glimpse of class in possession but lacked a real cutting edge in the final third. Oleksandr Karavaev was guilty of two spurned chances in the latter stages here, the best coming on 70 minutes after being presented with a clean header in the box following Ivanko’s corner.
Declan Walker shot well over with a tame free kick twelve minutes from time in a half that Ireland had the majority of possession in, if not shooting opportunities.
The eastern Europeans did hit the net in the 89th but Dynamo Kiev’s Volodimir Koval was adjudged to have been offside when he struck past McDermott.
As the clock ran down an unfortunate incident ended the game when Ukrainian midfielder Roman Mochulenko was stretchered off and subsequently brought to the Mater Hospital after an accidental clash right at the death.
Rep.Ireland: Aaron McCarey (Sean McDermott HT); Anthony O’Connor (Declan Walker HT), Joe Shaughnessy, John Egan, Eoghan Osbourne; Daryl Horgan (Shane Byrne HT), Jeff Hendrick, Craig Walsh (Liam Irwin HT), Stephen McDonnell (Patrick McEleney HT), Ryan Connolly (Daryl Horgan 82‘); Michael Rafter (Robbie Brady 71‘)
Ukraine: Arthur Denchuk; Oleksandr Karavaev, Ivan Ordets, Oleksandr Noiok, Artem Shabanov; Roman Mochulenko, Vladislav Calitvintsev(Vyacheslav Churko HT), Volodimir Koval, Igor Ozarkiv, Vitaliy Ivanko; Pylyp Budkivskiy
Booked: Calitvintsev (88’), Koval (90’)
Subs not used: Ievgen Galchuk, Ruslan Babenko, Vitaliy Ryabusthko, Oleksandr Nasonov, Anton Dolhiy,
Referee: Richie Winter
