Republic of Ireland U21 2-0 Liechtenstein U21
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The Republic of Ireland U21s continued their good form in Group 7 of the U21 European Championship qualifiers at the Showgrounds in Sligo on Monday night. First half goals from Robbie Brady and Aidan White gave Ireland a 2-0 win over a poor Liechtenstein side. Noel King’s charges remain in third position, just three points behind Turkey and Italy and with two games in hand over the Turkish.
It was a comfortable win for the home side, with Brady, White and Chelsea’s Conor Clifford, on loan at Yeovil Town, bossing the game. Liechtenstein struggled at times to cope with the physicality and sheer drive of a determined Irish side. Robbie Brady opened the scoring early on, when he scored a 13th minute penalty, sending Liechtenstein ’keeper Dario Caluori to his left as the Hull winger sent the ball down the middle after Collins was impeded just inside the area.
Ireland dominated the first half and it wasn’t long before they were terrorising Caluori’s defence again. Brady, Clifford and James Collins were running the show in front of a large Sligo crowd and it wasn’t long before Aidan White doubled the lead. On 37 minutes, Brady danced around two defenders and unselfishly laid the ball off for White to tap home. Although Ireland were dominating proceedings, their lack of a lethal touch let them down several occasions with Collins in particular struggling to get a hold in the game. Both Collins and Clifford’s frustrations were clear to see as both were booked in the first half for kicking the ball away in annoyance at a refereeing decision.
The second half was not as entertaining as its predecessor, with much of the game bogged down in the middle of the field. Rene Pauritsch’s side were beginning to cope with constant green waves of attack, as Ireland continued to largely disappoint in the last third. The visitors did show signs of life now and then including the 53rd minute when Simon Pirker latched on to a cleared ball from his defence. Pirker ran at the Ireland defence but a combination of captain Robert Kiernan, Shane Duffy and Richie Towell, who was sitting deeper in the home midfield, snuffed the striker out.
The second half played out with Ireland continuing to struggle to find space in front of goal as Liechtenstein fell further back to crowd them out. Fabien Eberle gave the crowd something to chew on as his shot from distance woke the unused Ian McLoughlin in the Irish goal up briefly. On the hour mark, Brady sent a scooped pass over an opposition defender to find Manchester City starlet Greg Cunningham. The full back, who is on loan at Nottingham Forest seemed to be put off by an encroaching defender and his shot only managed to find the side-netting.
Shamrock Rovers’ Karl Sheppard and Sligo Rovers’ Aaron Greene were the only League of Ireland representatives in the Irish squad on the night and both were introduced late in the game. Sheppard, who replaced James Collins 19 minutes before the end, struggled to give the Central European side anything to think about. Meanwhile, Greene entered the game four minutes from time in place of Conor Clifford and never really got the chance to get going. Ireland U21’s next game isn’t until next June, when they face Italy in a venue yet to be decided.
Rep Of Ireland: Ian McLoughlin, Mark Connolly, Greg Cunningham, Rob Kiernan ©, Shane Duffy, Richie Towell, Aidan White, Adam Barton, James Collins, Robbie Brady, Conor Clifford.
Subs: Aaron McCarey, Lanre Oyebanjo, Daniel Kearns, Gavin Gunning, Karl Sheppard (for Collins, 71), Jeff Hendrick (for Barton, 80), Aaron Greene (for Clifford, 86).
Liechtenstein: Dario Caluori, Fabian Eberle, Rony Hanselmann, Valentin Flatz, Olcay Gur, Philip Ospelt, Nicolas Hasler, Lucas Eberle ©, Simon Pirker, Sandro Wieser, Niklas Kieber.
Subs: Lorenzo Lo Russo, Alessandro Buchel, Pascal Foser, Daniel Brandle (for Ospelt, 87), Vinzenz Flatz, Sandro Wolfinger.
