Ireland Boys Under-16s went down 4-1 to the Netherlands in their final friendly of ‘Future Development’ tournament.

Having produced two excellent performances against Denmark and Sweden – winning each game 2-0 – Ireland suffered their first loss against a talented Dutch side.

The Netherlands were 1-0 up when Rayen Zoufri slotted home after 18 minutes.

Ireland responded almost immediately when Ciaran Daly was felled in the box and was awarded a penalty. He stepped up to find the corner to bring Ireland level.

However the lead was last only two minutes when the hosts restored their lead through Ajax’s Chris Tujeehut.

Early in the second half, Ireland were awarded their second penalty of the game. Fay again was brought down but this time his spotkick was saved by Tygo Ruitenberg.

And Ruitenberg was called into action in the 52^nd minute when a Ben Nicholls free-kick was superbly saved by the PEC Zwolle goalkeeper.

This gave the Netherlands the confidence to go on and see out the game with Gillardino Enthingh and Michael Kramp adding to the goal tally for a 4-1 victory.

Netherlands: Ruitenberg, Kwarten, Durrer, El Baghdadi, Amin Cheung, Snijder (C), Soesanna, Vis, Tujeehut, Zoufri, Kake. Substitutions: Lamey, Cammarata, Aldenhove, Tjin-Kon-Fat, Kramp, Enthingh, Volendam, Jumelet, Arens.

Ireland: Byrne (Clarke, 41’), McKeon, Nicholls, Fitzsimons (Okorie, 63’), Phillips, Rascau (Fisher, 74’), Grace (Lowry, 41'), Zeller (C), Fay, Daly, Kelly (McColgan, 63’).

International Friendly Results

Friday, April 10th | Ireland BU16 2-0 Denmark BU16
Sunday, April 12th | Ireland BU16 2-0 Sweden BU16
Tuesday, April 14th | Netherlands BU16 4-1 Ireland BU16