Irish sides remain in medal shake-up despite mixed results

Ireland’s U18 sides produced another mixed bag of performances on day two of European competition in Austria and Belgium today. Five first-half goals, including a Shane O’Donoghue hat-trick, helped the boys to a 5-1 win in their rearranged tie against Ukraine this motning.

Glenanne prodigy O’Donoghue got them off the mark on eight minutes with a drag-flick, before finishing off Kyle Good’s pull-back for 2-0. Ukraine’s reply, coming from a 16th-minute corner, only stemmed the flow temporarily, with Stephen Dowds finishing a breakaway before Ian Sloan netted a rebound. O’Donoghue’s hat-trick, coming in the 30th minute, rounded off the scoring as Ukraine went into damage limitation mode in the second half. However, Ireland’s hopes of advancing were dealt a blow later in the day when they went down 4-2 to hosts Austria. Meanwhile, Mary Logue’s U18 girls bounced back from yesterday’s reverse at the hands of Belgium with a 1-0 defeat of France to keep their title hopes alive. Chloe Watkins’ 12th-minute drag-flick proved the difference in a match Ireland bossed for long periods, with Orla Fox and Connacht duo Dora Gorman and Brenda Flannery to the fore. Both U18 sides will be hunting victories tomorrow to ensure they are in the shake-up for the medal positions. The boys meet Switzerland, with the girls taking on England.