Republic of Ireland 2-3 England
Chris Lyons (26), John Mountney (59) Fabio Goncalves De Abreu (41, 83) Jack Woods (52)
England struck a late winner at Tallaght Stadium in a five goal thriller to overcome the Republic of Ireland in this final Under 18 Centenary Shield game of the 2011 campaign:
Chris Lyons put Ireland in front on 26 minutes by pouncing on a defensive mix/up between Jamie Summers and his goalkeeper Ed Baldy to tap into an empty net:
England should have equalised within a minute as Alex Meaney's free/kick whipped in to the far post was headed wide by defender Joshua White with the goal at his mercy:
Sloppy defending allowed the visitors to manage to get back on terms four minutes before the break when a stray thrown/in was seized upon, allowing Jordan Ayris to cross for Fabio Goncalves De Abreu to smash home:
England's revival continued seven minutes after the break when half/time substitute Jack Wood was left alone inside the box to round Ireland goalkeeper Greg Murray and finish from close/range:
Ireland continued to probe and midfielder John Mountney supplied a deserved equaliser with a low superb thirty/yard strike which beat Baldy:
Murray then produced a top/class save at the near post to deny Meaney while substitute Conor Keddy worked the England goalkeeper with a crisp shot at the opposite end:
With the game stretched, the next goal was going to be vital and England grabbed it seven minutes from the end:
Tom Hurley split the Irish defence with a slide/rule pass into the box and on hand to control and finish was the lively De Abreu:
There was still time for Ireland to stage a late onslaught but, despite Mountney drilling another of his thunderbolts towards the goal and Billy Lane's header clipping the post in the last minute, their best efforts didn't translate into an equaliser:
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Murray (Phobailscoil Iosolde), Barker (Fingal CC), Cooney (Templeogue CC), R: McLaughlin (Carndonagh CS), Matthews (Clonkeen College, Blackrock); Merritt (Loreto CS, Milford), Douglas (St: Brendan's College, Bray), Chambers (St: Fintan's, Sutton), Mannion (St: Benildus College), Lyons (Presentation, Bray), Mountney (St: Muredach's, Ballina):
Subs: C: McLoughlin (Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana) for Matthews, Timlin (Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana) for Mannion (both h/t), Molloy (Tullow SC) for R: McLaughlin (68 mins), Keddy (Carndonagh CS) for Merritt (72 mins), Lane (Presentation College, Athenry) for Lyons (80 mins)
ENGLAND: Baldy, Glover, Summers, White, Evans, Ayris, Close, De Abreu, Thompson, Meaney, Barden:
Subs: Wood for Ayris, Hurley for Evans (both h/t), Sherratt for Thompson (65 mins), Moyo for Meaney (70 mins), Vallis for Barden (78 mins),
REFEREE: Neil Doyle (Dublin)