Byrne to the rescue as Ireland grab draw

Ireland U19s 1 Czech Rep U19s 1

Ireland boss Paul Doolin made 10 changes to his side which beat the Czechs 2-1 in Tuesday’s first game between the nations and they fell behind on 23 minutes from the penalty spot.

Ref Brendan Kelly awarded a spot-kick for a foul by captain Pearse Sweeney on Petr Sevcik, allowing Vaclav Juecka to send keeper Danny Rogers the wrong way from 12 yards.

Manchester United’s Sam Byrne was Ireland’s livewire up front, coming agonisingly close on the half hour with his poked effort which skewed wide.

Ireland were level within a minute of the restart. Left-winger Adam Evans darted to the end-line and his cross to the near post found Byrne, who guided his header past Jan Kotnour.

The pressure continued from the home side, with Sweeney’s header two minutes later rebounding off the crossbar following Kieran Sadler’s set-up from a corner.

Brandon Miele’s forceful right-foot was the source of Ireland’s best chances of nicking a winner. Only the crossbar denied the Newcastle midfielder’s 25-yard shot on 80 minutes.

Up next for the Irish is a training camp in Malaga at the end of March, their final preparation before they attempt to progress to the European finals in Lithuania from their Uefa elite stage qualifiers in June.

IRELAND: D Rogers (Aberdeen); J Keane (Waterford Utd), S Smith (Leicester City) P Sweeney (Reading), B Garmston (West Brom); B Miele (Newcastle), L Gallagher (Burnley), K Sadlier (West Ham); S Maguire (West Ham), A Evans (Burnley), S Byrne (Man Utd).

Subs: K Evoy (Spurs) for Maguire 43, R McConnell (Man Utd) for Keane 50, P George (Celtic) for Evans 76, K Dillon (Hull) for Miele 81.

CZECH REP: Kotnour; Filip, Karafiat, Wermke (Nerad 46), Masek (Simic 89); Jureka (Liska 72), Sevcik (Byrtus 78), Cermak; Travnik, Hybl, Sterba (Shejbal 46). Referee: Brendan Kelly.