Germany shake off gutsy Ireland

Germany U21 2 Ireland U21 0

Out of the race to qualify before this fixture, manager Noel King fielded a young side with a eye on the next campaign and they withstood the German barrage in the opening half. They might even, with better finishing, went ahead by the break but Germany killed the tie soon after, with two goals within five minutes of the restart.

Philipp Hofmann, who at 21 was three years older than some of the visiting players, headed the opener on 47 minutes before his namesake Jonas ghosted into the box to curl a shot past Ian Lawlor in the Irish goal.

Any of Ireland’s rare attacks were channelled through Jack Grealish, the Aston Villa newcomer who has requested time and space from Ireland manager Martin O’Neill before deciding on his international future at senior level.

When Grealish earned a free on the left after 23 minutes, Jack Byrne’s delivery found Conor Wilkinson but the header was tame. Then he left two defenders for dead before teeing up Jack Connors to shoot but he fired straight at Timo Horn.

“The players could easily have collapsed after conceding twice early in the second half but they showed great character,” was King’s post-match assessment.

“Our lads will learn plenty from this as they’ve nothing to be ashamed of.”

Grealish tweeted: “Gutted but that was hands down the best u21 team I’ve ever played! Thought we done well considering how young we were compare to them.”

GERMANY: Horn; Korb, Can, Knoche, Gunter; Geis, Leitner, Schulz (J Hofmann 46 mins); Bittencourt, P Hofmann (Arnold 65 mins), Younes (Kachunga 74 mins).

REP OF IRELAND: Lawlor; Long, Hoban, Watkins-Clark, Griffin; Lenihan, J Byrne (Sweeney 60 mins), Connors; Sadlier (Garmston 65 mins), Wilkinson, Grealish.

Referee: A Ekberg (Sweden).