Ireland U15s finish fourth in Italian tournament following defeat to South Korea

Having beaten UAE and North Macedonia, Ireland then lost to Austria before setting up this 3rd/4th place play-off with an impressive South Korea side.

ITALIAN JOB: The Ireland Men's Under-15s finished fourth in the Torneo delle Nazioni following a 3-1 loss to South Korea in a 3rd/4th Place Play-Off match in Italy. Pic credit: FAI.

South Korea 3

Republic of Ireland 1

The Ireland Men's Under-15s finished fourth in the Torneo delle Nazioni following a 3-1 loss to South Korea in a 3rd/4th Place Play-Off match in Italy.

Having beaten UAE and North Macedonia, Jason Donoghue's team then lost to Austria before setting up this clash with a South Korea side who were very impressive.

A first-half double from the opposition put them behind but they did register a strong second-half showing saw that got them deservedly on the scoresheet before being punished with the last kick of the game.

South Korea started brightly and had a header cleared off the line moments before Pohang Steelers attacker Junho Jin cut inside to fire a shot past Southampton goalkeeper George Moloney to open the scoring.

Ireland then began to grow into the game and showed their own quality by moving the ball well and forcing a number of corners in a bid to get back level.

One of which saw Alan Settell’s powerful header cleared off the line as the pressure mounted.

Whilst pushing for the equaliser, Ireland were undone on the counter as Jin’s club-mate Suhyun Ahn doubled their lead.

But again the young boys in green responded well as the Shamrock Rovers pair of Richard Ferizaj, who's older brother Justin also represents Ireland, and Danny Burke saw thunderous strikes fly just over the bar.

Following some changes at half-time, Ireland halved the deficit just a few minutes into the second period when substitute TJ Molloy showed great composure to slot home his penalty after Ferizaj showed good feet in the area before being brought down.

Ireland fashioned a number of promising attacks as they tried desperately to level matters, but just as the final whistle was about to be blown Geonmin Choi blasted in to seal the win.

Ireland: George Moloney (Darragh Brunton 40), Sean Speight, Niall Sullivan (Joe Byrne 62), Richard Ferizaj, David Dunne, Joel McPhail (Jason Spelman 40), Desmond Armstrong (TJ Molloy 40), Danny Burke, Samuel Ogungbe (Ben Dumigan 53), Alan Sattell (Tadhg Prizeman 40), Brody Collins (Kian Quigley 40).

South Korea: Gunho Kim, Minjun Choi, Jihwan Moon, Jun Namkoong, Dohun Kim, Sunhyun Ahn, Geonmin Choi, Gyeongmin Min, Samuel Seo, Jinhyeok Lee, Junho Jin.