Keogh captains U16s
SEAMAS Keogh, who featured for the Sligo Rovers U17s in their Cup final on Saturday was only back from Romania where he captained the Republic of Ireland U16s in a friendly.
The Grange footballer was also captain of the Republic of Ireland U15s last year and has huge potential for the future.
Ireland narrowly lost to the hosts on a 2-1 scoreline and Paul Osam’s side are taking on Brazil on Wednesday in another friendly in Dublin.
Osam’s side put up a competitive display and led at half-time through a first half Conor Carty goal but the hosts got back in the tie after the break to claim the spoils. Romania came close to breaking the deadlock in the 13th minute when striker Theodor Corbeanu fired in a powerful shot from the edge of the box but Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Gavin Bazuna made a top class save.
After a period of consolidation, Ireland took the lead in the 32nd minute with a brilliant goal. Captain Keogh linked up with Kian Leavy then smashed the ball against the home crossbar and Carty headed home from close range before home keeper Robert Popa could react.
However, Romania levelled matters in the 49th minute when Corbeanu headed home at the back post after a Ianis Stoica corner kick was not fully cleared by the Irish defence and the same player found the striker at the back post from the loose ball. The home side went ahead in the 57th minute when the impressive Corbeanu pounced on a poor clearance then carved out the space for himself in the Irish penalty area to slot into the bottom corner for a fine finish. Ireland were unfortunate not to level in the 63rd minute when Conor Power got his head to a left wing freekick by Brandon Holt but his effort was too high to trouble the keeper. Despite their best efforts the Irish could not force a leveller. “I though we were good in the first half and the work we’d done showed an improvement on the first game,” said Osam. “Results wise it has not been great but individually there’s lots of good things we can take from this. The Brazil game has come up on us very quickly and we were delighted to accept that fixture. The players will have a learned a lot from these two games.” Ireland take on Brazil on Wednesday in the AUL Complex, Clonshaugh.