Local hero saves Irish U-21s with late goal

Republic of Ireland U-21 2, Germany U-21 2

It was the perfect boost for U-21 manager Don Givens, as the Irish prepare to take on UEFA U-21 Championship qualifying rivals Albania in Longford on Friday night, and then Georgia at Kilkenny's Buckley Park the following Tuesday.

Germany, coached by former internationals Uli Stielike and his assistant Horst Hrubesch, will be have been pleased to have been given such a rigorous workout ahead of their U-21 qualifier against Scotland in Kilmarnock on Friday night.

But it was Miller's performance that really caught the eye, in front of 4,000 fans on a bright Cork afternoon.

Playing in central midfield alongside Sunderland's Sean Thornton, Miller turned in a powerhouse performance, dazzling with his box-to-box running and overall influence on proceedings.

It was Miller who provided the chip over the top which put through Nottingham Forest midfielder Andy Reid after just six minutes, for him to put the ball in the back of the net, only for the effort to be ruled offside. But the Irishmen made amends 14 minutes later when that other hometown hero, Cork City's prolific striker John O'Flynn, opened his international account to give Ireland the lead.

O'Flynn, starting for the first time in an U-21 side, having made his debut as a sub against Switzerland last October, ran onto a Thornton through-ball after the midfielder had won possession in the centre circle. O'Flynn set off for goal and coolly rounded German goalkeeper Tom Franke before slotting the ball home for a well-taken goal.

Germany did not take long to find their feet however, and hit back in some style, not only equalising but going ahead with two well-struck goals in three minutes, on and just after the half-hour mark.

The leveller came from prolific Mainz striker Ben Auer, scoring his 10th goal in 13 starts for Stielike's side. Then Hitzlsperger sent his country into the lead with a stinging shot from inside the area and into the top corner, which had the diving Graham Stack flailing to his right.

When the game sprang to life again it was Germany who very nearly grabbed a conclusive winner. With 20 minutes to go, sub Thorsten Burkhardt forced a save from Stack, and Stephen Capper was forced to clear Christian Tiffert's follow-up off the line.

But the home side kept pressing for the equaliser they deserved, and when O'Flynn found space on the right inside the area, he held the ball up perfectly before sliding the ball across for Miller to slide home.

It was the crowning effort of a memorable performance and Ireland boss Givens was delighted.

"Liam Miller's performance was exceptional. He has that ability to influence the game and it was a Roy Keane type of performance. He takes everything on himself, the defending and the attacking, and he ended up scoring the equaliser.

"It was brilliant. He's a very important part of our play. In his hometown and as captain he took everything on board and performed magnificently.

"And he's not just captain for the day. He's the captain of the group and I told him when he came in this week that he was captain for the remaining games of his time with us."

A draw was the least the Irish deserved, Givens said, but with back-to-back UEFA qualifiers against Albania on Friday and Georgia the following Tuesday, a good performance was the real bonus.

"I thought we deserved something out of it," Givens added. "It was a big, physically strong German team and some of our boys were two, maybe three years younger. So I think it would have been cruel had we lost, but even if it had ended 2-1 I still would have been happy with the boys' performance."

IRELAND U-21: G Stack (Arsenal), S Kelly (Tottenham), S Capper (Sunderland), C Cryan (Sheffield United), J Thompson (Nottingham Forest), L Miller (Celtic captain), G Barrett (Coventry City), T Butler (Sunderland) (S Elliott, Manchester City, 68), J O'Flynn (Cork City), S Thornton (Sunderland) (W Hoolahan, Shelbourne, 83), A Reid (Nottingham Forest) (G Ward, Wolves, 90).

GERMANY U-21: T Starke (Bayer Leverkusen), C Preuss (Bayer Leverkusen), B Schlicke (SpVgg Greuther Furth), F Kringe (Koln) (G Gemiti, Udinese, 45mins), D Lapaczinski (Hertha Berlin) (A Madlung, Hertha Berlin, 81), T Hitzlsperger (Aston Villa), M Feulner (Bayern Munich) (T Burkhardt, SpVgg Greuther Furth, 45mins), H Balitsch (Bayer Leverkusen), B Auer (Mainz), M Azaouagh (Mainz) (M Franz, Wolfsburg, 65), C Tiffert (Stuttgart).

Referee: J Eriksson (Sweden).