Ireland U18s suffer single goal loss in Swiss friendly
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PAUL DOOLIN'S Republic of Ireland under-18 side fell to a single goal loss to Switzerland in a second friendly game in Monthey in three days tonight.
Ireland were unlucky not to open the scoring in the 44th minute when Aberdeen’s Alan O'Sullivan had a header from corner blocked and when Reading’s Sean Long pounced on the loose ball his close range effort is blocked out by Swiss keeper Leonard Kiener.
The only goal came in the 54th minute when Miguel Castroman converted the loose ball after Irish keeper Eric Grimes had saved at the feet of winger Marvin Graf, who had made an impressive burst down left wing.
Leeds keeper Grimes was in impressive form and had kept out some decent efforts from Shpetim Sulejmani in the first half before making a stunning stop to keep out a Manuel Riedweg header from a 76th minute corner.
Grimes denied Omar Thali a second goal in the 89th minute when he got down well to save at his feet.
Manager Paul Doolin was pleased with the two friendlies played this week: “Eric made some good saves but we played quite well. We started a lot of players who hadn’t started the last day. The players know what I’m looking for now.
“We could have had a penalty in the first half. Alan O’Sullivan looked like he was taken down after being sandwiched between two players.
“We’ve lost games in friendlies before it’s about looking at players for the qualifiers this year and next year.
“We learned a lot about the players. The Swiss are a good team and you could see they know each other well.
“There were a lot of good performances from players like Evan Finnegan, Sean Long, Ben McLaughlin and Lyndon Gooch. It was a good exercise.”
SWITZERLAND: Kiener, Gonçalves, Roux, Ozcan (Riedweg 46), Stenz, Mazreku, Da Costa, Janko (Castroman 46), Graf, Karlen (Thali 46), Sulejmani (Fekete 73).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Eric Grimes, Sean Long, Evan Finnegan, Mason Watkins-Clark (McConnell Ryan 46), Daniel O'Reilly, Sean Coyne, Lynden Gooch (Grealish Jack 79), Tom Mulroney, Johnny Leddy (O'Connor Kevin 73), Alan O'Sullivan, Dylan McGlade (McLaughlin Ben 61).
