Ferdy gets last half-hour but Republic of Ireland Under-19's fall to the Czechs

23 July 2011 23:23
Even though Southend United midfielder Kane Ferdinand gained 33 minutes of game time for the young Irish there was still disappointment as after taking the early lead they lost 2-1 to the Czech Republic in Romania. Kane Ferdinand: Another Irish call-up has taken him to sunny Romania Teenager Kane Ferdinad received the call to join the Republic of Ireland once again for the Under-19 European Championships which sadly, well maybe not for him, has taken him out of the Shrimpers pre-season schedule. Anyway, the tournament takes place in Romania and the Republic of Ireland kicked off their campaign on the opening day against Greece, before further group games against the Czech Republic and then the hosts Romania. And, as it happens, the young lad has grabbed a couple of caps gaining more match time every game, at this rate he should get the whole of the second half on Tuesday! First, he made a decent job to take time off the clock with just five minutes to go with the Irish 2-1 up, and in the second one he went on with the clock showing 57 minutes, excellent stuff, well for Kane, but not the Irish. One up when the London born teenager went on, he qualifies for Ireland through his Dublin born Dad, two goals by the groups top seeds the Czech Republic in the alst 20 minutes saw them win 2-1 and leave all to play for in the final games on Tuesday. The boys in green then will play Romania who have yet to gain a point yet, so here's hoping they do enough to secure qualification into the semi-finals. The results to date puts the Czech Republic on top of the table with six points, followed by Ireland and Greece on three, while Romania sit on the bottom with no points from the two fixtures. The latest results throw up a whole range of permutations for the final round of group fixtures but if Paul Doolin's achieve any sort of positive result in their final game it will hopefully be enough. Best of luck for the final game mate. For the full report go here: www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101924:czech-republic-defeat-ireland-in-u19-uefa-championship&catid=4:under-19&Itemid=12 Ireland: McCarey (Wolves); Doherty (Wolves), Egan (Sunderland), O'Connor (Blackburn Rovers), Williams (Aston Villa); Murray (Watford), Carruthers (Aston Villa), O'Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers), Hendrick(Derby County), Forde (Wolves); Smith (Watford). Substitutes: Ferdinand (Southend United) for O'Sullivan (57 mins), Murphy (Bray Wanderers) for Smith (64 mins), Knight (unattached) for Murray (76 mins) Czech Republic: Koubek; Hála, Brabec, Kalas, Jeleček; Kadeřábek, Jánoš, Sladký, Krejčí; Skalák, Přikryl.Substitutes: Lácha for Skalák (46 mins), Kraus for Sladký (55 mins), Polom for Jánoš. Referee: Tamas Bognar (Hungary). Attendace: 337

Source: FOOTYMAD