Goals from Amos Sholanke, Tyrick Reilly and two from Josh Ojelabi gave the boys in green a 4-1 win at Reading's Academy in west London, played in front of several interested club scouts.
Manager Gerry Davis was delighted with his sides win; "It was a great performance today as we were struggling a little with a couple of injuries but we asked everyone for a big performance and I think we got that."
The Erasmus+ trip to the UK has ended with the FAI/ETB squad unbeaten in their four games. Manager Gerry Davis was delighted with how the tour went.
"This has been the first Erasmus+ trip for players in FAI/ETB courses and has been a fantastic experience both on and off the pitch for everyone involved. The FAI have worked really hard behind the scenes to make this happen and it has been a great success."
With a full schedule of events planned it was a busy two weeks for the FAI/ETB trainees from eight different courses around the country. Visits to Premier league games, a Wembley Stadium tour, and four games against academies sides from Fulham, Crawley Town, Reading and Isthmian league semi-professional side Dorking Wanderers kept them busy. However it was the visit to Brighton’s impressive academy which proved the most interesting according to Davis.
“We had a tour of their excellent facility which included a presentation from Academy manager John Morling, outlining Brighton’s player development and recruitment strategies. John specified what attributes they look for in players when recruiting and how they monitor them their development. Brighton’s Irish underage internationals Warren O'Hora and Jayson Molumby also answered questions in relation to being an player at the academy which our players found fascinating especially as O’Hora had been previously been a trainee at the FAI/ETB course in Cabra.”
"We would like to thank John as he has been a great help with the planning of the trip and also organizing the visit to Brighton."
The Erasmus+ trip for FAI/ETB players has been a resounding success and plans are in place for future trips for next intake of trainees in September 2019.