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Ireland U15: Ireland win UEFA Development Tournament in style

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Ireland Under-15 win UEFA Development Tournament

Ireland won the competition with a 100 per cent record, scoring 15 goals in the process and conceding just once. 
 
Caden McLoughlin hit a hat-trick with Adam Murphy, Kevin Zefi, Gideon Tetteh, Adam Nugent and Sam Curtis all netting.
 
Ireland took an early lead against Luxembourg (who had won both their matches in the competition)on nine minutes when Murphy got on the end of a Tetteh cross to score his second of the tournament.
 
The home team, playing in all white, took early control of the match with a pressing game that caused difficulties for the visitors.
 
Curtis stepped out of defence on 11 minutes and picked out a through ball for McLoughlin but the CF Malaga forward couldn’t find the finish the play deserved.
 
On 17 minutes McLoughlin did take his chance. He found space behind the backline to produce a sharp left-footed finish.
 
Then began a three-minute blitz that took the game away from Luxembourg. A corner delivered into the box was dropped by keeper Tiago Pereira and Shamrock Rovers’ Zefi was quickest to poke it home.
 
A minute later Tetteh scored a fourth. He was put through on goal and with most of the half to himself he placed his effort beyond Pereira with the ball hitting the post before it crossed the line.
 
And seconds after that it was 5-0. McLoughlin who had threatened the backline throughout the game was sent one-on-one and he rounded the keeper for his second.
 
Ireland started the second half perfectly and it got better for McLoughlin. He sealed his hat-trick after taking advantage of a mistake by the goalkeeper and tapping it into an empty net.
 
Nugent made it 7-0 on 58 minutes when he lofted a ball over substitute goalkeeper Margato for a superb finish – his fourth of the tournament.
 
On 67 captain Sam Curtis made it 8-0 when Mark Tansey worked well down the right to free the defender in the 18-yard box and he stayed calm to slot home.
 
That goal capped off an excellent display and week for the young side. The Under-15 team return to action in November with a double-header against Poland in Galway.
 
Speaking about the win and the tournament as a whole, Ireland Under-15 Head Coach Jason Donohue said: “I thought we were very good today in the first half and Luxembourg couldn’t live with our intensity. Tactically the team got it right. I think the lads really responded to the week. It’s a good learning environment here and by the third game they knew what was expected of them - they really put on a show.”
 
Donohue also spoke about the work that is going into the Ireland underage set-up. He added: “Our identity as a football nation is coming from all the international managers sitting down, once a month and going through principles, age specific coaching and understanding styles of play. 
 
“We do this under the guidance of Ruud Dockter [FAI High Performance Director] and it’s working. Add this to Niall Harrison from the Emerging Talent Programme and the National Academy, we now have players coming in 15 to 16 months younger than us so when they get to the Under 15 stage they’re already equipped in terms of the style of the play.”
 
Ireland: Walsh (GK) (O’Shea 41); O’Brien (Hughes 49) Kelly, Curtis (C), Cowper Gray (Heffernan 41); Ferizaj (Barrett 49), McManus (O’Brien Whitmarsh 41), Murphy (Fitzgerald 56);  Zefi (Tansey 56), Tetteh (Murray 41), McLoughlin (Nugent 49).
 
Luxembourg: Pereira (GK) (Margato 46); Ikene, Agostinelli, Souchard (Irigoyen 62), Flick; Joao T De Sousa Moreira, Lohei (Ferreira 62), Afonso (C); Fonseca Lima (Khatri 72), Oliveira (Pereira 62), Dardari (Diabi 72)
 
Referee: James Calway (Ireland)
 
Results - UEFA Development Tournament
October 17 – Republic of Ireland 3 -1 Latvia, Solar 21 Park, Castlebar
October 19 – Republic of Ireland 4-0 Faroe Islands, Sports Park, Westport
October 21 – Republic of Ireland 8-0 Luxembourg, Ballina Town FC, Ballina 
 

Ireland Category: 
Choose Site: 
Ireland
Match Preview / Report: 
Match Report
Introduction: 
The Republic of Ireland Under-15 team have won the UEFA Development Tournament in Mayo after an emphatic 8-0 victory over Luxembourg in Ballina.

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