Keogh plays role for country
NETHERLANDS IRELAND 1 1 THE Republic of Ireland U15s played the Netherlands twice last weeks and among the starting eleven was Grange’s Seamas Keogh. The Benbulben FC player is becoming a regular starter on the Jason Donohue coached international side. The visitors bounced back from a disappointing 5- 1 defeat to the hosts on Tuesday, putting in a fine display to record a 1- 1 draw in the second leg on Thursday.
Manchester United youngster Ayodeji Sotona put the Irish in front very early on and although the Dutch levelled with a fortunate first half equaliser, Irish coach Jason Donohue was pleased with the overall display his young side produced.
Troy Parrott almost snatched a victory for the Irish in injury- time but the Dutch keeper made a decent save.
Ireland took the lead in the fifth minute when Parrott made a powerful run down the right wing and sent the ball across goal for Dublin- born So- tona to slot home from 10 yards out. Irish keeper Aaron Davis made a decent save to keep out a Dutch header in the 15th minute before the Netherlands levelled in the 17th minute with a fortunate effort that saw a right wing cross end up in the Irish net via the opposite upright.
Cian Leavy had a chance to restore Ireland’s lead in the 37th minute after connecting with a cut back from Parrott but a defender cleared off the line. Davis made a decent save in a one on one situation in the 70th minute then the home side had a play- er sent off for a foul on Ireland substitute Festy Ebosele with nine minutes left.
Donohue said after the defeat the team went about regrouping: “We reflected on the first game and spoke about not making the same basic defensive errors so we defended a little deeper. After we took the lead it was tight enough and were unlucky not to go ahead.
“When we looked back on Tuesday we weren’t actually that bad but you can’t get away with the errors we made. We created more chances in the first game but we looked a stronger unit in the second game and overall I feel we met our objectives here this week. We’ll look forward to our next fixtures against the Czech Republic in April.” REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Aaron Davis, Seamus Keogh, Cian Kelly, Sean McEvoy, Jack Funge, Cian Leavy, Joe Hodge, Sean Kennedy, Brandon Holt, Troy Parrott, Ayodeji Sotona.
Subs: Conor Carthy for Leavy 41 mins; Matthew Healy for Sotana 41; Festy Ebosele, for Kennedy 65; Timi Sobowale for McEvoy 73. Unused: Harry Halwax, James Furlong, Armstrong Okoflex.
PRIMARY School children from across the country will be coming up against each other once again as the SPAR FAI Primary School 5s Programme nears ever closer. Locally the event was launched at Canning’s Spar on Pearse Road. The five- a- side school blitzes are open to boys and girls from 4th, 5th and 6th class, and emphasis is placed on fun and inclusivity. SPAR and the FAI are looking to trump last year’s participation figures, which saw 1,267 schools and 23,736 children nationally lace up their boots to take to pitches around the country. Registration closes on February 17th, and county blitzes will kick off at the end of February. Winning schools progress from County level to regional then provincial finals, with the lucky few making it all the way to the national finals, which will be held in the home of Irish football, Aviva Stadium, on May 30th. The SPAR FAI Primary School 5s Programme is an initiative organised by the Football Association of Ireland Schools ( FAI Schools). Speaking at the launch of the event, Ger Canning, of Canning’s Spar, says their involvement is crucial to promote football locally. “The purpose of these Spar 5s is to promote soccer in the town on both a local and national level. We want to promote football in the locality. We brought over Carraroe National School for this launch because we want to ensure our local school is part of this.” He added: “With Spar, it’s part of a national programme which is relative at local level as well. With soccer so strong in Sligo town it’s important that we are involved. To have John Russell to promote it within the FAI as well is just brilliant. The amount of work John puts in with both the FAI and Spar programme - it’s just incredible. Information on entering the SPAR FAI Primary School 5s Programme is available at www. faischools. ie or www. spar. ie. Follow all the action live on social media using # SPAR5s