Two late goals almost led to a remarkable comeback for the Republic of Ireland Women's Under-16s but they ultimately fell to a 3-2 defeat to Switzerland in an International Friendly in Dublin.

In the first of two games, both to be played in Whitehall, it was the Swiss who went in front with Emanuela Pfister opening the scoring after peeling away from her marker to fire in.

The same player pounced again to put the visitors 2-0 up and Tom Elmes's team had to respond, which they did by shoring up their defensive structure and matching their physical opponents in one-on-one battles.

Elmes opted to give seven players their first starts at this level and then mixed things up after the interval with four players introduced - three of whom spearheaded their attack.

Switzerland caught Ireland for a third goal with Anida Mujela applying the finish but that then led to an impressive period of play for the home side as they began to apply a lot of pressure.

With time running out they kept pushing forward and finally got a reward on 90 minutes when Aoibhe Brennan got their first goal. Three minutes later it was Lauryn McCabe's turn as she made it 3-2.

However, the clock was against them and a draw slipped away as the referee blew for full-time. Ireland will have learnt a lot from this game and it is the type of test that Elmes wanted his players to experience.

They will meet again on Thursday, November 3rd in the same venue.

Republic of Ireland: Laura Fanning; Lucy O'Rourke (Ava Mullins 70), Kayla Maguire (Ciara Fitzpatrick 70), Chloe Wallace (Clodagh Daly 55); Cache Crumlish (Aoibhe Brennan 46), Emma Duffy (Amy Tierney 55), Finley Newell (Sarah McCabe 70), Sorcha Melia (Emily Fitzgerald 70); Libby Bermingham (Lauryn McCabe 46), Orlaith Doherty (Hannah O’Brien 46), Katie O'Reilly (Rebecca Devereux 46).