The game kicked off at 7-40 on a pristine pitch and the large crowd were treated to high tempo fitst half where the home side dominated but were limited to just three attempts on goal the best chance falling to David Hoban who saw his header hit the crossbar after twenty five minutes, while Newmarket’s Celtic Eoin Hayes also went close.
The Republic of Ireland started the game without the services of captain Ken Hoey, Chris Higgins and Brendan O’Connell all excused for various reasons and the captains arm band was handed to St. Michaels Jimmy Carr who excelled in his role and at a fine game tormenting the Northern Ireland’s defence with his pace.
The home supporters had something to cheer when local lad Dominic Bligh from Castlerea Celtic come on to make his debut for the Amateur international squad.
This was Gerry Davis and his squad’s last game before the team depart for Italy on Sunday week were the will compete with hosts Italy, Slovenia and Macedonia for the chance to qualify for the UEFA Regions Cup Finals in 2017.
The squad will have three days in Italy before their first game against the hosts and will use this valuable team with players to bond with the squad and to plan on capturing three points in their first game.
The game saw solid performances from Mark Horgan, Shane Daly Butz and Conor Griffin while Jimmy Carr, Stephen Kelly, Eoin Hayes and Andrew Gannon impressed, in the squad of eighteen all the players are there on merit and I’m sure all will be pushing for a start in our first game in Italy on Wednesday, September 28.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Mark Power, Stephen Kelly, Mark Horgan, Jimmy Carr, Shane Daly Butz, Andrew Gannon, Danny O’Neill, David Joyce, Eoin Hayes, Conor Griffin, David Hoban. Subs: Dominic Bligh, Kevin O’ Connell, Pa Mullins, Highie O’ Donovan, Brian Murphy, Stephen Bradley, Gary Neville (All Used).
NORTHERN IRELAND: Darren Teague, Hugh Carlin, Colin Robinson, Kyle Mc Cleery, Kyle Harte, Conal Crawford, Kyle Friel, Steven Wallace, Kealan Mulcahy, Lee Warnock, Richard Lynch. Subs: Paul Wells, Conor McNamee, Trevor Parkhill, Caolan Cooley, Joe Williamson, Frank Wallace, Stephan McQuillan.