Athlone Star Helps Republic Of Ireland To Victory In His U18s Debut

Wednesday, 18 August 2021 08:48

Photo credit: Facebook/@shamrockroversacademy

The 17 year old bagged the second goal in their win over Hungary last night.

Athone's Dara McGuinness helped the Republic of Ireland U-18s to victory in his debut last night.

The 17 year old Shamrock Rovers clubman bagged the second goal in their 2-0 win over Hungary.

The international friendly in Budapest was the U-18s first outing since September 2019.

It gave boss Colin O'Brien a winning start to his reign, with 14 players getting their first outing at this level.

Ireland started the livelier of the two sides with Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh going close several times in the first half. Firstly, he hit a low drive that tested the handling of goalkeeper Martin Dala. Then on the half-hour mark the Cork City man saw his attempted lob land on the roof of the net.

O'Brien-Whitmarsh, operating in the Number 10 position, found himself thwarted by Dala five minutes later when he was put through on goal and saw his effort bounce off the body of the Hungarian goalkeeper.

The breakthrough came just before half-time. Derby County's Cian Kelly-Caprani capitalised on a mistake in the Hungary backline, latching onto a loose ball and rounding the goalkeeper to slot in from a tight angle to give Ireland a deserved lead.

After the break, it was 2-0. Leeds United's Coleman did superbly well to get down the right flank before delivering a dangerous cross into the six-yard-box. The ball fell to McGuinness and the Athlone man poked it home to give Ireland a two-goal cushion.

Ed McJannet almost topped off his fine performance with a goal of his own. He engineered an opportunity with an exchange of passes, however his left-footed effort was pushed behind for a corner. It was to be the final clear-cut chance of the second half and the game finished up 2-0.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow, as Ireland looked to do the double over Hungary.

Hungary: Dala (Mergi. 46); Kaján (Sipos 77) , Korógyi (Kovács 77), Dragoner, Yaakobishvili, Szabó (Andros Gulyás 60), Molnar, Kocsis (Kiss, 60), Gruber (Auriél Gyuris 77), Bakti, Kallai.

Republic of Ireland: Clarke; Agbaje, Grehan (Fogarty 73), Heffernan, Murphy; McJannet, Coleman, O’Brien-Whitmarsh (Brooks 61), Kelly-Caprani, McGuinness, McEvoy (Pearce 61).

Referee: Imre Kovács (Hungary).