O’Brien brace stuns Dutch

Ireland U21 3 Holland U21 0

This comfortable victory over Holland in a friendly, initiated by Aiden O’Brien’s first-half brace and completed by an Anthony Forde penalty after the break, followed up their 4-2 thumping of Italy in Casarano last September.

That Millwall striker O’Brien was one of 12 players handed their U21 debuts in this entertaining workout bodes well for manager Noel King ahead of the 2015 Uefa championship qualifiers which begin in August.

Ireland were bright from the start, though they survived an early scare when goalkeeper Aaron McCarey almost contorted to claw away a misdirected header by his team-mate Derrick Williams on four minutes.

Wolves’ recently appointed assistant manager Brian Carey was present to watch McCarey and Forde, and the latter was involved in all three goals.

On 10 minutes, he teed up the onrushing full-back Matt Doherty to deliver a cross and O’Brien was left unmarked at the far post to sweep home the ball from close range.

The inevitable response from the Dutch was dealt with by the Irish defence as, aside from Hakim Ziyech’s shot from an acute angle which struck the upright, they seldom looked in trouble.

Indeed, it was the home side next to strike when Limerick native Forde’s free-kick from the right was flicked on at the near post by captain Shane Duffy and there to connect with a superb volley was lone striker O’Brien.

Despite their interval advantage, this game was primarily centred on experimentation for Ireland and that was evident by King making five changes for the turnaround.

For all the possession enjoyed by the Dutch, they lacked a cutting edge in the final third, leaving it to the impressive Forde to enhance his reputation further by making it 3-0 on 57 minutes.

His rampaging surge into the box was curbed when dragged down by full-back Mike Te Wierik and the winger drove the resultant spot-kick high to the right of goalkeeper Hobie Verhulst.

An upbeat King applauded his players’ efforts afterwards.

He said: “Beating a Dutch side is always a tough task but to do so in that fashion is a great credit to the lads.

“Holland could have been ahead but our opener settled us down and we played some fantastic football. All of the team were excellent and Anthony Forde showed just why he’s played lots of games for Wolves’ first-team already.

“We’ve a tough qualifying group alongside Germany but there’s no reason for us to be fearful. This is the base of our squad for the qualifiers, barring the likes of John Egan coming back from injury later in the year, and we won’t make too many changes for the next friendly against Portugal in Cork on March 25.”

IRELAND: A. McCarey (Wolves); M. Doherty (Wolves), S. Duffy (Everton) – capt, D. Williams (Aston Villa), S. McGinty (Manchester United); C. Reilly (Birmingham City), K. Ferdinand (Peterborough Utd), S. Carruthers (Aston Villa); S. Murray (Watford), A. O’Brien (Millwall), A. Forde (Wolves).

Subs: J. O’Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers) for Ferdinand (35 mins, inj), S. McDermott (Sandnes Ulf) for McCarey, F. Sutherland (Portsmouth) for Carruthers, A. O’Connor (Burton Albion) for Williams, C. McHugh (Bradford City) for McGinty, J. Shaughnessy (Aberdeen) for Doherty (46 mins), C. Forrester (St. Patrick’s Athletic) for O’Brien (57 mins), C. Bolger (Bolton Wanderers) for (64 mins)

HOLLAND: Van Der Lei (Verhulst 46 mins); Te Wierik, Letschert (Veltman 46 mins), Van De Pavert (Denswil 46 mins), Bakker (Van Ooijen 46 mins); Jansen, Drost (Foor 46 mins), Ziyech; Slagveer (Lukoki 46 mins), Schalk (Valpoort 46 mins), Elbers.

Referee: M Smyth (Northern Ireland).