Republic of Ireland U15's had to settle for a share of the spoils with Poland this afternoon following a 1-1 draw in Whitehall. It was a much improved result for Ireland after going down 2-0 to the same opposition on Tuesday.
Head Coach Jason Donohue made wholesale changes with eight players coming into the starting line-up from Tuesday's game. Those changes had the desired affect as Ireland went in at the break a goal to the good following Dylan Gavin's 30th minute penalty.
Poland put Ireland under pressure in the second period and found the equaliser in the 50th minute when Szymon Wlodarczyk found the back of the net at the end of a goalmouth scramble.
Speaking to FAI.ie after the game, Republic of Ireland Head Coach Jason Donohue was pleased with what his team gained from the double header.
"For the first game, our objectives were to be calm on the ball under pressure rather than going direct. Coming into the second game we wanted to take what we focussed on in our analysis sessions and penetrate faster in attack.
"The players learned a hell of a lot from being in camp for the two games. They will have learned about the importance of nutrition and recovery. They have learned to improve their build up play, going through phases and overloading certain areas of the pitch when the opportunity presented itself. There are plenty of positives for us to take overall - mainly the strength in depth we have at this age group. We made eight changes to our starting line-up today and we competed to a high level both occasions," he added.
Next up for the Under 15 side is a charity game against the North Dublin League in aid of the homeless on December 10th at the Oscar Traynor Centre. Kick off is 14:00.
Republic of Ireland: Darragh Burke (GK), Fionnan Coyle, Gavin O’Brien, Ronan Kilkenny, Jamie Doyle, Kyle Conway, Kailin Barlow, Valentino Adekoun, Dylan Gavin, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, Oran Crow.
Subs used: Sami Clarke, Bosun Lawal, Colin Conroy, Cian Kavanagh, Kenneth Lee
Subs not used: Patrick McGarvey (GK), Joseph Rushe, Jake Prendergast