Ireland’s U-19s played in Sweden Friendly
It follows a 2-2 draw in their first meeting on Friday.
For the second time in three days, the 19-year-old men of the Republic of Ireland were drawn by Sweden in the final match in their friendly double-header in Marbella.
After their 2-2 draw on Friday, these two nations played a 1-1 draw on Monday when Aidomo Emakhus’ superb finish for Ireland quickly interrupted Jusef Arabi’s previous strike for Sweden.
Tom Mohan took a squad of 23 players to southern Spain to prepare for his UEFA U19 qualifier under 19 in Bulgaria next month, where they face Bulgaria, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro in their group.
The manager made a total of eleven changes from his side’s first meeting with the Swede less than 72 hours earlier, which was their first match in 689 days.
After a tense opening of the game, Sweden took the lead halfway through the first half thanks to striker Jusef Erabi.
Ireland were a bit unlucky in the way they let in the goal as goalkeeper Arlo Doherty had initially made a good save, but after a crawl on the edge of the penalty area, Erabi expertly hit the ball.
But the Irish responded brilliantly to that setback and they were not after as long as half an hour on the clock – just six minutes after falling behind – they took a draw through Aidomo Emakhu.
The number 24 was alert and struck the loose ball after some hesitation from the opponent’s defense before he finished superbly past the goalkeeper.
Ireland were now at the top and they almost completed a sensational comeback a few moments later but after a good move down the right side that allowed Ben McCormack to shoot the ball into the net, their celebration was interrupted when the lineman flagged offside.
Given how the other three halves of these squads have developed in recent days, it was no surprise that the second period here was just as close even though the match was marred by a serious injury to McCormack.
When the match came to an end, Ireland almost took the victory but the substitute Cristiano Fitzgerald was denied after good pressure in the attacking third when the two teams took part in the change.
Republic of Ireland: Doherty, Gallagher (Seary 57), Mills, Abankwah (Garcia MacNulty 84), Adedokun (Adaramola 84), Corbally, McJannett (Lawal 84), Vaughan (Mullins 84), McCormack (Finn Benoa 71), Hayes (Fitzgerald 84), Emakhu (Pearce 63).
Sweden: Guadagno, Robak, Nilsson, Ayari, Dahl, Widell, Olsson, Erabi, Swedberg, Navik, Qasem.