Republic of Ireland U17   3 - 2   Romania U17
Clare Shine
Kate McCabe pen
Gemma McGuinness

Ireland started the brighter of the two sides, Clare Shine showing her strength’s early on testing the Romanian keeper on a number of occasions before opening the scoring on 15minutes.  Excellent pressure from Michelle Farrell won possession back for Ireland.  Farrell then linked up with Shine who took on the Romanian defence, skipping past 3 players before lining up a difficult inch perfect shot beyond the reach of the Romanian keeper.

Ireland kept up the pressure for the remainder of the half, coming close on a number of occasions. The best move of the first half, where Ireland should’ve doubled their lead, came when Ciara Rossiter broke from defence, showing neat footwork in the Romanian penalty box.  Rossiter’s inch perfect pass picked out the incoming Katie McCabe whose shot was well gathered by Romanian goalkeeper.

In the second half, Romania came out all guns blazing and put Ireland under pressure for long spells early in the second half.   A defence splitting pass from Cosma put Lunca through on goal, she made no mistake in leveling the game.

Ireland weathered the storm, and had goal keeper Jill Maloney to thank that the scoreline remained level.  First saving from a one on one with Lunca, and moments later Maloney was quick off her line to dive at the feet of Lunca and safely gather the ball.

Ireland began to find their rhythm again with the introduction of Amber Barrett, who proved to be a handful for the Romanian defence.  It was Barrett’s burst into the box which resulted in the penalty as she was brought down from behind.   Up stepped McCabe making no mistake from the spot as she buried the ball in the top corner to give Ireland the lead.

Minutes later, substitute Amy O’Connor’s energetic run on the right wing resulted in a corner.  McCabe’s cross found Shine who flicked it on for the incoming Gemma McGuiness.  Her neat finish put some daylight between the two teams.

In the dying minutes, Romania were awarded a free kick on the right which they took quickly and Ireland were punished with a goal to make it 3-2.

It was a hard fought performance by the girls in green.  Three points on the board from their opening game was the order of the day, and they duly served.   Up next is Macedonia on Wednesday who were defeated by Italy in their opening game, so they’ll be keen to get their campaign back on track.  While Ireland look to take one step further to securing their place in the next phase of the championship.

Republic of Ireland: Jill Maloney, Shauna Newman, Ciara O’Connell, Mary Fitzpatrick, Ciara Rossiter, Katie McCabe, Chloe Mustaki, Lauren Boles, Caroline Healy, Clare Shine (c), Michelle Farrell.  Subs used: Amber Barrett, Gemma McGuinness, Amy O’Connor

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