Ireland Men’s Under-16s went down 3-1 to hosts Türkiye in their opening game of the Aegean Cup.

All the goals came in the second half with Ozam Demirbag bagging a brace for Türkiye and St. Patrick’s Athletic’s Michael Noonan netting his eighth international goal of the season for Paul Osam’s side. Galatasaray forward Furkan Koçak wrapped the game up late on as the MU16s suffered only their second defeat of the season.

Türkiye had already claimed victories over Macedonia and Denmark this campaign and like Ireland were coming into the tournament with the belief they could win the competition.

It was no surprise the opening 20 minutes was a cagey affair with neither team wanting to give their opponents an inch and it took until 20 minutes into the first half for the first chance at the Metin Oktay Campus. Oguzhan Ertem was given room to fire off a strike from 25 yards and Shamrock Rovers stopper Alex Noonan got down to his right to tip the ball behind for a corner.

This sparked Ireland into life and Michael Noonan had a great chance to break the deadlock when he was allowed space inside the penalty area to fire off a shot however his shot was tame and easily dealt with by Eren Dönmezer.

Ireland had a claim for a penalty waved away just before the break. Max Kovalevskis burst past his man and had a yard on him but went down in the penalty area seemingly under a challenge from Can Bartur Çigar. Surprisingly the referee pointed for a goal kick.

In the second half Türkiye had a glorious chance to take the lead but Alex Noonan produced two fine saves. First Ahmet Hakan Atis fired at goal but was denied by the Irish goalkeeper and when Yunus Azrak followed up he too was thwarted by Noonan.

But a minute later the hosts were ahead. A long ball forward fell to Ozam Demirbag who managed to turn his defender, hone in on goal before lashing the ball into the corner for a fine opening goal in the 49th minute.

Ireland responded in the perfect manner and were back level three-minutes later. Jaden Umeh got free on the left wing, beat his man before putting it on a plate for Michael Noonan to steer the ball home.

The hosts were back ahead in the 65th minute. Ireland gave away possession from throw-in, Türkiye countered and when Demirbag was picked-out in the area he calmly finished for his second of the game.

Demirbag went close to his third with 15 minutes to go but Noonan was able to stick out a right arm to deny the Adana Demirspor striker.

With five minutes remaining Türkiye wrapped up the contest when Furkan Koçak was put in through on goal and his left-footed finish found the corner for 3-1.

Ireland are back in action on Wednesday morning when they come up against Czechia.

Türkiye: Eren Dönmezer, Çobanoglu, Bartu Çigir, Turan, Eligüzel (C), Bagci, Azrak, Ertem, Demirbag, Hakan Atis, Ali Tazi.
Substitutes: Dadük, Yilmaz, Koçak, Ozcan, Duran, Izmirli, Gök, Çolak, Akdogan, Nazli, Kahraman, Eligüzel, Kurt

Ireland: A, Noonan, Canny (Hayes, 75), McDonagh, Steward (C), Sherlock, Oladiti (McMahon Brown, 58), McDonnell (Campbell, 87), Martos (Ogbonna, 58), Kovalevskis (O’Neill 87’), Umeh (Tollett, 75), M.Noonan

International Friendly Fixtures and Result (all kick-off times are Irish Standard Time)

Monday, January 22 | Türkiye 3-1 Ireland
Wednesday, January 24 | Ireland v Czechia, Izmir, Türkiye, KO 9.30am
Friday, January 26 | Ireland v Greece, , Izmir, Türkiye, KO 10am