Republic of Ireland U19 v Greece U19 Live Commentary
Live commentary of Ireland’s first group game at the 2011 UEFA European Under 19 Championships.
That’s all from us for tonight. See you on Saturday for the second game!
Here’s O’Connor celebrating the second goal, once again thanks to UEFA and Sportsfile:
Full-time: Very impressive win for Paul Doolin’s men. Fantastic from set-pieces, they’ve obviously been training hard this past week in Rome, and exploited weaknesses in the Greek defence. The win puts Ireland in a great position to make the semi-finals. A win on Saturday against Czech Republic would see us top the group and therefore play the second placed team from Group B. With Spain expected to win all their games, this could be the ideal situation.
93 min: In the other game, the referee blows for full-time. Ireland still holding on.
92 min: Greeks driving forward now in search of an equaliser. But Bakasetas misses the target.
90 min: Stoppage time here. Another 3 minutes.
88 min: Rougalas is booked. Hang on lads.
87 min: Wow, super save from McCarey to keep out Katidis.
86 min: First thing Kane does is to tear down his marker. Not bad.
85 min: McGovern comes on for O’Sullivan. For those not paying attention at home, that’s Kane Ferdinand McGovern.
84 min: Adam Janos scores for the Czechs. They’re 3-1 up. We play them on Saturday.
82 min: Joe Shaughnessy comes on for Williams. More fresh legs. Hopefully we can keep the score as is.
82 min: Weather a bit better here. We’re hearing it’s dreadful at the other game though.
78 min: Straight swap up front. Connor Smith on for Murphy. Knight and Ferdinand warming up, so either could come on soon.
75 min: Referee has a word with Doherty, who brought down Kolovos. He better be careful as he’s already on a yellow.
71 min: Dimitris Kolovos comes on for Marinakis. That’s Greece’s last change. Paul Doolin has yet to bring on a substitute.
70 min: Since there’s no TV stream of the game, how about a picture of Anthony O’Connor celebrating the first courtesy of UEFA and Sportsfile?
69 min: Fortounis picks up a booking. I promise not to use a pun this time.
68 min: Ireland win another corner. Queue barking from the Greek boss. His instructions worked, as it’s easily cleared.
65 min: Czechs should have had another. A defender was off the field behind the goal, but the referee gave offside despite this.
63 min: Greece attacking a bit more at the moment. They win a corner, but can’t get the header on target.
61 min: Sebastian Remeş sent off for Romania, after picking up a second yellow. Tomáš Jeleček scores the resulting penalty. 2-1 to Czech Republic in the other game.
60 min: UEFA have confirmed that the Spain-Belgium match will be replayed in full tomorrow. Which is unfortunate for the Spaniards, who led 1-0 after 12 minutes.
57 min: Matt Doherty becomes the third player to go into the referee’s notebook.
55 min: Greece send on striker Anastasios Bakasetas for Karelis.
52 min: Haha, seems I’m ahead of time here. That goal was the 51st minute according to the announcer.
51 min: GOAL!!!!! Ireland are 2-1 up. Carbon copy of the first goal. Murray corner, O’Connor goal. Short corner this time launched in for O’Connor.
48 min: Karelis with the first chance of the half, but he does nothing with the opportunity.
47 min: Actually, my bad, the wonderfully named Konstantinos Kotsaridis came on for the disappointing Dimitris Diamantakos.
46 min: And we’re back. Weather still not great. No changes in either team.
Half-time: Bit of Led Zeppelin playing here in the stadium. Bruce Spingsteen’s Thunder Road would probably have been more apt.
Half-time: Great start for Ireland, but the Greeks showed great discipline to get back into it quickly. Good match so far, apart from the weather. Think we all need to dry off at half-time!
45 min: Into stoppage time now. We’ll have 3 minutes.
43 min: Revenge. Lagos is booked for a foul on Murphy, who has been quiet so far. Murray floats in the free, but Doherty heads over.
43 min: All square in both games now. Tomáš Přikryl scores. He only did that once in qualifying.
40 min: Forde beats a defender easily, but is closed down by the other centre-back and skews his shot.
40 min: Things have calmed down a little since, on the pitch that is. Off the pitch, it’s still brutal. Thought it was meant to be sunny in Romania this time of year.
34 min: Same victim, different aggressor. This time Jeff Hendrick picks up a yellow card for fouling Lagos. Potouridis takes the free, but sends it over.
33 min: Carruthers forces Lagos to the ground, picking up a booking from referee Pawel Gil.
32 min: Hearing that the Romania goal was a miss-hit cross. Sometimes you have to be lucky.
30 min: The hosts take the lead in Chiajna where Nicolae Stanciu has scored. Romania 1-0 Czech Republic.
26 min: Anthony O’Connor takes down Fortounis. Fortunately, Potouridis’s effort is a weak one.
25 min: John O’Sullivan gets his first chance at goal, but can’t direct it goalwards.
22 min: Another decent corner from Murray, met by captain Egan, but it’s not troubling Kapinos. By the way, Kapinos also played against our under 17s in their qualifying campaign. That match ended 1-1 in case you were wondering.
20 min: The rain is really coming down now. Thunder and lightning too. This game has everything.
18 min: More free kicks been given away. Far from ideal conditions for a football game, hopefully they will improve as the match goes on.
15 min: Good pressure from Ireland, who are looking stronger in the centre of the park. We get another corner, but unfortunately the Greek defenders are more aware this time around and get it clear.
12 min: Jeff Hendrick gets put through on goal, but can’t keep his shot down.
10 min: It’s pouring down in Romania, in the other game the hosts are playing Czech Republic. We’ll update you if anyone scores there.
6 min: GOAL!!! Disaster, Katidis equalises. A fantastic volley from just inside the penalty area. Ireland 1-1 Greece.
4 min: A couple of free kicks given away by Anthony Forde, who is trying to make his mark on the match.
2 min: GOAL!!! What a start for Ireland. Sean Murray floats a corner in which Anthony O’Connor volleys home. Ireland 1-0 Greece.
0 min: The game kicks off here in Buftea, just 8.5km from where the Spain-Belgium match took place earlier. That game was abandoned due to lightning, and it’s hot and humid here in Buftea, which will surely favour the Greeks.
TEAMS:
Ireland: McCarey, Doherty, Williams, Egan, O’Connor, Murray, Hendrick, Carruthers, Forde, O’Sullivan, Murphy
Greece: 1 Stefanos Kapino (GK), 3 Kostas Stafylidis, 4 Tasos Lagos, 5 Giannis Potouridis (C), 7 Charis Mavrias,, 10 Kostas Fortounis, 11 Nikos Karelis, 14 Nikos Marinakis, 15 Kostas Rougalas, 16 Dimitris Diamantakos, 17 Giorgos Katidis
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