Watch: Franco Umeh-inspired Ireland topple Slovakia
Slovakia 1 Ireland 3
Substitute Franco Umeh inspired a 3-1 win for Ireland Men’s Under-19s in their friendly against Slovakia.
Umeh scored a superb solo goal to give the MU19s a 2-1 lead after Ireland fought from a goal down. Killian Cailloce and Sean Patton added to the goals in the second of two games against Slovakia.
Tom Mohan’s team were looking to bounce back following a 1-0 defeat to the same opponents three days ago and when Slovakia went a goal ahead early on this morning there were concerns it could be a similar outcome.
Matús Kucman put Jakub Murko through on goal and he composed himself before slotting home past Andrew Wogan in the Irish goal.
But 10 minutes later Cailloce equalised on his first start for Ireland. The Drogheda United man got on the end of a corner that was excellently saved by Jakub Vinarčík but he couldn’t keep out Cailloce’s rebound as he levelled from close range.
An injury to Ryan Kelly mid-way through the first half saw the introduction of Umeh, and immediately the Crystal Palace forward caused problems in the Slovakian backline. He left Murko and Marek for dead and drove a ball across goal that just evaded the Irish attackers as they searched for a lead.
How’s this for a finish?
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