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Cork hire Keith Ricken as senior football manager

Cork GAA are set to hire Keith Ricken as their new senior football manager on a two-year deal after he applied for the job following the conclusion of the 2021 season.

The All-Ireland U20 winning boss was confirmed as the recommendation of the county’s selection committee.

Ricken will replace Kieran McCarthy in the role after he departed following a second successive Munster final defeat.

According to the Irish Examiner, Ricken beat out up to six other men who had put their names forward for the role after entering late into the race.

The St Vincent’s clubman will be joined by five selectors with a coach to be announced in the near future.

Micheál Ó Cróinín (Naomh Abán), Ray Keane (MTU / St. Finbarr’s), James Loughrey (St. Brigid’s / Mallow), Barry Corkery (Éire Óg) and Des Cullinane (St. Nicholas) will make up most of Ricken’s backroom.

Ricken most recently managed the Cork U20 footballers where he won the Munster title twice and achieved All-Ireland success alongside a provincial crown in 2019.

Several members of his 2019 All-Ireland winning team have already graduated to the senior set-up, including All-Star nominee Sean Meehan and Brian Hartnett.

He will have the chance to bring through members of the Munster U20 title-winning side in his two years in charge of the Rebel County’s senior footballers.

Ricken has also won the Premier Intermediate Championship in Cork twice as manager of St Vincent’s and won CIT their only Sigerson Cup to date in 2009.

A statement by Cork GAA reads: “The County Executive will be proposing Keith Ricken (St. Vincent’s) as incoming Senior Football manager on a two-year term at our next County Committee meeting.

“Selectors will be as follows: Micheál Ó Cróinín (Naomh Abán), Ray Keane (MTU / St. Finbarr’s), James Loughrey (St. Brigid’s / Mallow), Barry Corkery (Éire Óg) and Des Cullinane (St. Nicholas). Coach to be announced in the near future.”

South Dublin Swans break Lions’ hearts in extratime

South Dublin Swans are the 2021 AFL Ireland Premiership winners for the sixth time in their history after an incredible, high scoring victory over Leeside Lions

Last Saturday afternoon at a dry and warm Trinity College Sports Grounds, Santry a thrilling match took place.

The Swans nearly lost this game in normal time when down by 12 points deep into the final quarter. However, in the final two minutes, they scored the two goals and forced extra time. In those extra 20 minutes, they ran away from a shell-shocked Lions who must have thought they had the job done to win the John Locke O’Sullivan Cup.

The game was expected to be a tight contest after only eight points separated the sides in their most recent meeting in Dublin in September that the Swans won. The pre-match expectation was that the Swans’ tall forwards that shone in the preliminary final victory the previous week would again dominate the goal scoring.

The Lions raced into a 3.0 18 to 2.3 15 quarter time advantage.

The second quarter again saw the Swans’ smalls to the fore with Owens getting another two goals and staking an early claim for best on the ground.

Another Swans small midfielder, the impressive Connor Dunne got the other two Swans goals in the second quarter. However, at the other end, despite the best efforts of the defense, the Lions also scored four goals.

This left the half-time score Swans 6.7 43 to Lions 7.3 45.

Lions’ midfielders Kevin Jones and James Daly did some good work and they kicked four goals to the Swans’ two in the third quarter.

Again, for the Swans, it was the smalls scoring with Dunne bagging his third goal of the game and 2021 AFL Ireland Best and Fairest winner Keith Whelan getting the other one.

This left the three-quarter time score a rather worrying one for the Swans at 8.7 55 to 11.4 70 to the Lions.

This was the largest advantage the Lions had in the game and unless the Swans rallied quickly it would be game over.

It could not have been a worse start to the final quarter for the Swans with the Lions getting the first goal to push nearly four goals clear. The tall forwards finally got going for the Swans with Aussie Drew Baldwin getting his first followed by former Wexford County midfielder Rory Quinlivan getting a six-pointer.

Seamus Owens then got his fifth goal of the game, but despite the heroic efforts of the Swans to get back into it the Lions also got two more goals to maintain their three-quarter time advantage.

With just two minutes remaining it was desperate times for the Swans, then Cork native Gene Casey got a goal and gave Swans some hope.

With less than 30 seconds left on the clock and despite desperate Lions defending somehow Keith Whelan popped up to snap a goal from 30 meters out to draw the Swans level and force extra time.

Final score normal time, Swans 13.11 89 to Lions 14.5 89.

In the extra time, the switch of former UCD soccer goalkeeper Conor McGroarty from defense into attack yielded results instantly with the tiring Lions back men unable to contain the defender come attacker who got two goals in the first 10-minute half of extra time and Gavin Murray getting a third to outscore Lions 3.2 20 to 1.0 6 at the break.

The two sides were nearing exhaustion at this point but still, they fought on with another McGroarty goal putting too much daylight between the sides as

The South Dublin Swans eventually ran out convincing winners after extra time 17.13 115 to 15.6 96 for a 19-point Swans victory.

 

It was not all in vain for the Leesiders as their women’s team, the Cork Vikings had a convincing win in the Grand Final against Ulster Kookaburras.

Swans now look forward to being the Irish entry into the AFL Europe Champions League next April in Amsterdam, in only their second-ever appearance in that tournament.

To read more in-depth and up-to-date AFL and other sports news, click here.

All-Ireland League, Belgium-Dutch League, Atlantic League: Will European Domestic Leagues Turn to Regional League Formats Sooner Rather Than Later?

Most sports struggle between change and tradition. Football no stranger to this conflict. It’s a sport that wants to continue to be accessible to the working people that birthed it despite it’s ever-increasing revenue and status, which is where some of the change-tradition issues stem.

One area of the sport which is indicative of this is the embrace and resistance to statistical and tactical analytics. Football has been behind the curve of this more “academic” turn within the wider sporting landscape, with the likes of the NBA and MLB very much frontrunners. However, in the last few years, a select number of clubs have incorporated analytics into the fabric of their decision making process, namely the likes of Matthew Benham’s Brentford F.C. and FC Midtjylland beginning the movement with FSG’s Liverpool F.C. becoming the most successful example.

Publicly, social media enabled amateur bloggers, programmers, and data analysts to experiment with football event data, developing metrics and visualisations to improve understanding. It’s early uses were for fun, namely, but, also, were applied to fantasy football teams and online sports betting and sport booksfor in-play, pre-game, outright bets. The other motivation was to showcase skills for potential employers too, which has resulted in a number of public bloggers getting jobs at professional clubs – Statsbomb, a company founded by Ted Knutson who was inside at Brentford and Midtjylland, are an one example who hired many public bloggers.

Despite it’s on-field success and some fans taking an interest to it, other fans have resisted it. It is changing the language of the sport. It’s altering the fundamental cornerstones for how the game is understood and played. It is forcing fans to accept that they might not know as much as it first appeared, which is discomforting. The sport is still football, but how it’s spoken about it is different.

12 October 2021; Conor Coventry of Republic of Ireland in action against Danilo Pesukic of Montenegro during the UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifier Group F match between Montenegro and Republic of Ireland at Gradski Stadion Podgorica in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo by Filip Roganovice/Sportsfile

Regional Leagues

Another worry for fans is the change of competition formats. Talk has always surrounded how leagues might change and adapt to growing needs and demands of the footballing calendar and footballing audience. The European Cup, now known as the Champions League, has undergone numerous changes across its lifetime, varying from pure single-elimination matches to the format we know today which consists of qualification matches, a group stage, and the two-legged knockouts before the final. It is now subject to new changes which are currently being discussed at the highest level.

The Premier League was founded in 1992, which was a considerable move to break away from the football league, which enabled the teams in the Premier League to consolidate money from TV deals within the league, as opposed to distributing it among lower division teams. This has seen considerable deals made with TV broadcasters across the world, which has seen prices rise from the £304M Sky paid in 1992 to the £9.2B national and international broadcasters paid for the 2019-2022 seasons.

Nowadays, at a domestic level, rumours of football associations of different nations holding talks about mergers have begun to spread and be confirmed. The Belgium FA and Netherlands FA have been very vocal about their possible merger, citing a studywhich could see the joint league generate €400M a year, which dwarfs the collective TV deals both leagues have arranged now. The pursuit of the league, then, is about the financial security of professional clubs.

All-Ireland League

The same thing is being considered for the Irish Premiership and the Danske Bank Premiership. It would be an all-Ireland football league, where teams for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would compete in one domestic league. Twenty of the twenty-two leagues have back the proposal. Finer details need to be sorted, but they all agree that they’d like UEFA to consider the arrangement.

The All-Ireland League would have a complex schedule. The early parts of the campaign would see teams compete against teams from their own country – Irish teams play Irish teams and Northern Irish teams play Northern Irish teams – before coming together to play against each other in the second half of the campaign. The early season results would create seedings for the late season matches. All the points from all the matches – in the individual league and the joint – would be totalled up before heading into a knockout tournament to determine the overall winner, the best team across the competition.

Mergers could be an important solution to long-term questions of how sustainable football clubs are.

Threat of the European Super League

UEFA are keen to improve competition within domestic leagues and ensure the economic stability of clubs. They are open to these mergers taking place in Belgium and Holland, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and in other areas like Scandinavia. Whether this is largely, in part, due to the constant threat that UEFA are under by major European clubs who are always supposedly considering breaking away from these governances to create their own super league remains to be seen. However, UEFA having other competitive and healthy products enables them to worry less about this threat.

Irish Surfer nominated for three top global awards

Red Bull Athlete and Irish Surfer, Conor Maguire has been nominated in three out of the four categories at the 2021 Global Red Bull Big Wave Awards.

The awards honour the athletes worldwide that are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible and celebrate the most death-defying surfing of the season with life-changing rewards.

A seasoned Big Wave surfer, Maguire achieved deserved global recognition last October, surfing what is believed to be the biggest wave to hit the West Coast of Ireland reaching 60 feet.

The Irish athlete earned himself nominations for the Biggest Tow, Ride of the Year and Performer of the Year.

The only Male European nominated in three award categories, from Bundoran County Donegal, Conor honed his skills off the North-West Coast of Ireland – the Irish talent has been taming the giant Atlantic swells of Mullaghmore since the tender age of 11.

The Irish surfer commented; “This is, without doubt, the biggest moment of my surfing career to date and one I won’t forget.

“I have an incredibly supportive network and team around me, and without them, I wouldn’t be able to do what I love at this level, so I am really happy to see our hard work recognised on a global scale like this.

“To be named up there with the likes of Kai Lenny in the Performer of the Year category, that means a huge amount to me and my team. It is definitely motivation for the Big Wave season ahead.”

Maguire is the only Irish surfer to receive a nomination.

$350,000 in prize money will be awarded across four categories for men’s and women’s divisions: Ride of the Year, Biggest Paddle, Biggest Tow, and Performer of the Year.

Winning photographers and videographers will also take home prize money for their achievements.

This year’s nominees spanned the globe with surfers representing countries including Ireland, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, the United States, and France.

The majority of the nominated rides come from the infamous big wave breaks of Nazaré in Portugal and Pe’ahi (a.k.a. “Jaws”) in Hawaii, USA, but this year’s shortlist also sees rides from Mavericks in Half Moon Bay, California, USA, Todos Santos in Mexico, and Mullaghmore in Ireland.

The winners will be announced during the 2021 Red Bull Big Wave Awards Show on October 29, broadcast on Red Bull TV.

2020-21 RED BULL BIG WAVE AWARD NOMINEES

RIDE OF THE YEAR

Male
Conor Maguire at Mullaghmore Head, Ireland,  Oct. 28, 2020.
Grant Baker at Mavericks, Dec.11, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Peter Mel at Mavericks, Jan. 8, 2021.
Billy Kemper at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Eli Olson at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Vinicius dos Santos at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 22, 2021.
Kalani Chapman at Outer Reef Log Cabins, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Wilem Banks at Mavericks, Dec. 8, 2020.

 Female
Paige Alms at Todos Santos, Mexico, Jan. 11, 2021.
Michelle des Bouillons at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 22, 2021.
Justine Dupont at Nazaré, Portugal, Jan. 16, 2021.
Maya Gabeira at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 5, 2021.
Izzi Gomez at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Keala Kennelly at Himalayas, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.

BIGGEST PADDLE

Male
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Kai Lenny at Mavericks, Dec. 8, 2020.
Peter Mel at Mavericks, Dec. 8, 2020.
Peter Mel at Mavericks, Jan. 8, 2021.
Grant Baker at Mavericks, Dec. 11, 2020.
Billy Kemper at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Nathan Florence at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Vinicius dos Santos at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 22, 2021.
Ian Walsh at Jaws, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Wilem Banks at Mavericks, Jan. 10, 2021.

 Female
Bianca Valenti at Mavericks, Jan. 12, 2021.
Justine Dupont at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 17, 2021.
Keala Kennelly at Himalayas, Hawaii, Dec. 2, 2020.
Justine Dupont at Mavericks, Dec. 8, 2020.
Paige Alms at Todos Santos, Mexico, Jan. 11, 2021.
Raquel Heckert at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 17, 2021.

BIGGEST TOW

Male
Conor Maguire at Mullaghmore Head, Ireland, Oct. 28, 2020.
Kalani Chapman at Outer Reef Log Cabins, Hawaii, Jan. 1, 2021.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Kai Lenny at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Ian Walsh at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Sebastian Steudtner at Nazaré, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2020.
Sebastian Steudtner at Nazaré, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2020.
Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca at Nazaré, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2020.
Makua Rothman at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Nathan Florence at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Francisco Porcella at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.

 Female
Maya Gabeira at Nazaré, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2020.
Maya Gabeira at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 5, 2021.
Justine Dupont at Mavericks,, Jan. 1, 2021.
Justine Dupont at Jaws, Hawaii, Jan. 16, 2021.
Justine Dupont at Nazaré, Portugal, Oct. 29, 2020.
Michelle des Bouillons at Nazaré, Portugal, Feb. 22, 2021.

PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Male
Kai Lenny
Peter Mel
Conor Maguire
Grant Baker
Sebastian Steudtner
Ian Walsh
Nathan Florence
Eli Olson
Billy Kemper
Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca
Makua Rothman
Vinicius dos Santos

Female
Justine Dupont
Keala Kennelly
Maya Gabeira
Paige Alms
Michelle des Bouillons
Raquel Heckert

Ireland v Bangladesh – Preview, Squads, Match Info

The Ireland men’s national cricket team will face Bangladesh on Thursday in Dubai in their final warm-up match before the T20 World Cup.

Ireland will play two days after their eight-wicket thrashing of Papua New Guinea and will be looking to keep the momentum going as they head into the World Cup.

Bangladesh were overpowered by Sri Lanka in a similar fashion as the side fell to them by four wickets with one over to spare.

The Irish performance included some strong bowling courtesy of Craig Young, Mark Adair and Ben White, who kept the Zimbabwean target low.

Young made Ireland’s first breakthrough with the dismissal of Tony Ura for two in the second over, and Charles Amini then fell for four to Simi Singh in the final over of the powerplay.

Ben White fired in a wide delivery to have Bau stumped for 12 in the 12th over, and the leg-spinner removed Vala minutes later for his second.

Jason Kila was White’s final victim, bowled for two after failing to connect from his sweep.

Mark Adair and Young joined in on the fun of targeting the stumps, with the remaining three wickets in the innings all bowled.

Captain Andrew Balbirnie and Curtis Campher took Ireland home with a substantial unbeaten partnership of 71, with both batters finishing on 42 not out after the national side lost Kevin O’Brien and Gareth Delany in the powerplay.

While the Ireland captain was more patient in batting for 46 deliveries, Campher provided power, cracking three fours and two sixes during his 35-ball stay.

Ireland will look to improve further upon their game and head into the World Cup in the best shape possible.

Squads

Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Gareth Delany, Joshua Little, Kevin O’Brien, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Benjamin White, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

Bangladesh: Mahmudullah (C), Afif Hossain, Mohammad Nain, Mushfiqur Rahim, Nasum Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Shahim Hossain, Taksin Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Mahedi Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mustafizur Rahman, Nurul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das.

Match Info

The game will begin at 3 pm GMT and will be held in Dubai. Updates will be available throughout the match on the Cricket Ireland social media accounts.

Ireland 4-0 Qatar – Social media reaction

Ireland produced their finest performance of the Stephen Kenny era to date against Qatar at the Aviva Stadium on Tuesday night.

Callum Robinson nabbed his first hattrick at international level after scoring a brace against Azerbaijan at the weekend, ending a seven-year-long wait for an Irish international hattrick.

Robbie Keane was the last player to do so, scoring three in a 7-0 rout of Gibraltar in Faro under Martin O’Neill in the Euro 2016 Qualifiers.

Fans were delighted with the performance and took to social media to praise the team throughout the game.

Co-commentator of the LOIArena Podcast, Con Murphy expressed his joy with the way the national side are playing under the former Ireland Under-21 manager.

He noted that it was “some of the best football [he’s] seen from an Irish team in yonks.”

Ireland were fluid in attack and passed their way around a Qatari side that will be the hosts of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which the Republic of Ireland have failed to qualify for.

The Irish made 38 passes in the build-up to the third goal which sealed Callum Robinson’s name in the history of Irish football as he completed his hattrick.

Other fans made light of those that have doubted Stephen Kenny throughout his time as manager of the Republic of Ireland’s senior side.

‘@GMcK2012’ made use of a Father Ted meme to imagine how the manager may have been feeling after his side’s resounding victory.

Kenny has been publicly criticised by high-profile figures on the Irish soccer scene in the past for his lack of positive results.

However, some fans are still not impressed, despite the clear improvement upon the 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture.

Despite Qatar being ranked five places higher than the Republic of Ireland, some people still expect more.

Time will tell if we get that.

 

Manchester City – Foden Talks Progressing, says Fabrizio Romano

Manchester City are making progress in their contract talks with Phil Foden’s camp as they look to secure a new deal for the young talent, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Negotiations over the prospective new deal have been ongoing for three months and Foden has continued to play a starring role for his boyhood club in that timespan.

Early discussions have been aiming at a six-year deal that will keep him at the club until 2027.

It is common knowledge that Guardiola thinks highly of the 21-year-old and the Catalonian is keen to reward him with a new deal that underlines his importance to the side.

In a tweet posted on Wednesday morning, Romano said: “Talks are progressing between Manchester City and Phil Foden’s camp over [a] new contract. Negotiations have been going on for three months and feelings are ‘optimistic’.

“Pep Guardiola wants Foden to be [a] key part of Man City future project.”

Foden has had a fantastic start to the 2021-22 season with the Manchester club and recently picked up the Man of the Match for England in their 5-0 World Cup qualifier win against Andorra.

Previous to the international break, he was named City’s Man of the Match for his starring role in the 2-2 away draw with Liverpool.

Foden was integral to the Cityzens’ attack throughout the game and scored to bring them level after Sadio Mané’s opener.

His five appearances for the Premier League champions so far this season has yielded no more than his goal against the Reds, but his impact stretches beyond goals and assists.

The England international is a focal point for Pep Guardiola’s team in the final third and his 48.28 passes attempted and 81% pass completion per 90 over the last 365 days underlines this.

Foden’s skills on the ball are worth taking note of as well as the winger makes 7.6 progressive carries per 90 and is a threatening figure for defences across the league.

With a new deal on the horizon, more of this can be expected for seasons to come.

Chelsea injury update: Kante and James return to training

The Premier League is back this weekend and there is some very positive news on the busy Chelsea injury table

The Good News

Manager Thomas Tuchel may need to keep an eye on the Chelsea injury list as he makes his team selection for Saturday. The club has officially announced that their star midfielder Ngolo Kante and young defender Reece James have returned to training.

The French box-to-box midfielder had to isolate after testing positive for Covid-19 before Chelsea’s game against Manchester City. This also led to him missing out on international duty with France. This rest has allowed him to return his fitness at the Chelsea training ground.

As for James, he suffered an ankle injury while playing the match against City. After missing England’s two World Cup qualifier matches, the club has confirmed that he has left the swimming pool and joined his teammates on the pitch.

The Not so Good News

The Blues still have some concerns going into the weekend. Their main centre half this season Antonio Rudiger had to sit out of Germany’s thrashing of North Macedonia.

Although German coach Hansi Flick said that Rudiger’s back injury was not serious, it will be something that Stamford Bridge will need to keep an eye on.

Another problem for Chelsea is their American winger, Christian Pulisic. The former Dortmund player has not featured much since the opening game of the season. This is mainly due to a positive Covid-19 test and an ankle injury. There is hope in the camp that he will return to training in the coming weeks.

Lastly, the Blues’ most expensive player, Romelu Lukaku was released from the Belgium national team camp last week. It is understood that the physical striker suffered a muscle injury.

Little is known about the injury but Chelsea will want him back in full health as soon as possible.

Tuchel will want to have his squad in shape as challenges newly-promoted Brentford in the league. The match will kick off at 17:30 on Saturday, 16th October in the Brentford Community Stadium.

To read more in-depth and up-to-date Premier League and international club football news, click here.

McEntee to stay on with Meath for 2022 season

Meath GAA Andy McEntee

Andy McEntee will see out the final year of his current contract with Meath after surviving a vote on his position as manager of the county’s senior footballers.

The vote took place at a county board meeting and was held in secret after the Meath executive recommended that the incumbent’s term with the side not be extended.

The executive had voted 8-7 in favour of letting the former Meath minor manager go but the clubs rejected the recommendation put forward.

LMFM Radio reported that the management committee did not receive the two-thirds majority it needed and that the Yes votes outweighed the no votes.

46 voted in favour of retaining McEntee for another year while 27 agreed with the committee. There was one spoiled vote.

The former Ballyboden St Enda’s manager has been at the helm of his native county’s senior side since 2016 and has taken them to Division One as well as two Leinster finals.

However, the county are yet to win a Leinster title since 2010 and have struggled to bridge the gap between themselves and Dublin on several occasions.

The Royals exited the Leinster Senior Football Championship at the semi-final stage this year after losing to Dublin by three points in a loss that also marked the end of their All-Ireland Senior Football Championship campaign.

Their second-half performance in the match was hailed by many as they came close to stopping Dublin, who won their 11th Delaney Cup in a row this year before eventually falling short to All-Ireland finalists Mayo.

Meath GAA announced the news on social media after the meeting had taken place: “The Meath G.A.A. County Committee has decided to endorse Andy McEntee as the County Senior Football Manager for 2022.

“Andy McEntee will now complete his three-year term and we are excited for the new year of Gaelic games to come.”

Penalty save denies Ireland U21 important point

The Republic of Ireland U21 narrowly lost 2-1 away to Montenegro in their UEFA European Under-21 Championship Qualifier in Podgorica on Tuesday evening

Goals from Nikola Krstovic and Ivan Vukcevic in the opening 10 minutes put Montenegro in front. This forced Jim Crawford’s Ireland U21 side to chase the game. They almost turned it around too with Mark McGuinness forcing Ognjen Obradovic into scoring an own goal before Conor Coventry saw a late penalty kick saved.

This loss now drops Ireland to fourth place in the group, four points off leaders Sweden. They do still have a game in hand but will be in dire need of a win.

 

Having beaten Luxembourg in Tallaght Stadium last week, confidence was high in the Irish squad.  Instead, they got caught early on with Krstovic scoring after just three minutes.

The tricky attacker raced onto a through ball before rounding the goalkeeper Brian Maher, slotting the ball home.

Montenegro doubled their advantage following a quick, incisive move. A deflected cross from the flank was dummied by Ivan Vukcevic but Krstovic quickly touched the ball back into his path and from a tight angle, the forward blasted it into the roof of the net.

For a brief moment just past the half an hour mark, Ireland thought they had conceded a third but they were relieved to see that Krstovic’s powerful finish with his head was correctly disallowed as he was stood in an offside position.

Ireland grew into the match following that let off but they couldn’t get the goal to half the deficit before the interval as Will Ferry saw a lob deflect just wide before his crossfield pass picked out Alex Gilbert, whose low drive from the edge of the box was saved.

They remained on top throughout the second 45 but it wasn’t until the 73rd minute that they gave themselves hope.

McGuinness reacted well to head home after the Montenegrins failed to deal with an in-swinging corner.

Substitute JJ Kayode almost nodded in a leveler within seconds of coming on but he could only turn Ferry’s cross wide of the near post.

After Ross Tierney and Kayode were denied what looked like certain penalties, Ireland was finally awarded a spot-kick in the 83rd minute when Jake O’Brien was fouled inside the area.

But Coventry couldn’t convert his second penalty in a few days. The Montenegro keeper made a great save low to his left to secure their win.

Next up is a doubleheader against Italy and Sweden as Crawford’s team return to Tallaght Stadium next month.

Starting Teams:

Montenegro: Izevic; Pesukic, Perovic, Babic, Raznatovic; Krstovic, Janjic, Vukotic (Divanovic ht); Vukcevic (Obradovic 70), Sijaric, Krstovic (Kujovic 57).

Republic of Ireland: Maher; O’Connor, O’Brien, McGuinness, Bagan; Coventry, Kilkenny (Devoy 77), Tierney (Kayode 77); Gilbert (O’Neill 60), Ferry, Ferguson (Whelan 60).

To read more in-depth and up-to-date Irish and international football news, click here.

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