Ireland Men’s Under-17s fought from two goals down to record a 4-3 win over Hungary in their second friendly in Oliva Nova, Spain
Galway United’s Cillian Tollett netted the winner three minutes from time in an enthralling seven-goal thriller. Having been defeated against Finland on Wednesday, Colin O’Brien’s team were determined to bounce back from that defeat. However the Irish team found themselves two goals down inside 10 minutes. It would take a goal from Shamrock Rovers’ Brody Lee to half the deficit before Malmö FF’s Aidan Gabbidon equalised for Ireland just after the half-hour mark. Six minutes into the second half Charles Akrintayo gave Ireland a 3-2 lead as Ireland took the lead for the first time. Not be perturbed, Hungary hit back 13 minutes later to make it 3-3. But the match-winning goal from Tollett, who had been introduced into the game as a substitute, would come in the 87th minute to give the Under-17s great confidence going into next month’s UEFA European Championship Qualifiers in Poland.
Ireland: Moloney (Brunto, 46’), Gabbidon, Spaight, Canny (Idah, 46’), Ogbonna (Sullivan, 46’), Finneran, McAteer (Martos, 47’), Skubo Keely (Hayes, 57’), Lee (McMahon Brown, 57’), O’Neill (Dunne, 71’), Akrintayo (Tollett, 71’)
Hungary: Balogh, Gulyas, Lakatos, Dealaportas, Milicz, Reb, Petrok, Varga, Zubor, Galambos, Toth. Substitutes: Esery, Ranko, Lakatos, Baranyi, Csoka, Webel, Soptei, Kovacs, Magyarics, Golik
