Irish inexperience leads to Portuguese ambush

Portugal - 2 Republic of Ireland - 0: Don Givens's side crashed to a third straight defeat yesterday to further dent their confidence.

Two first-half goals from Boavista striker Hugo Almeida were enough beat an inexperienced Irish team at the Municipal Stadium in Rio Maior.

Givens's side ended last year with European Championship qualifying losses to Switzerland and France.

Givens, though, was without a number of first-choice players, with Stephen Elliott and Aiden McGeady promoted to the seniors. He also chose to omit Paddy McCarthy as he is suspended for next month's qualifier with Israel in Tel Aviv.

Jay Tabb, Patrick Kohlmann and Marcus Painter were ruled out of the game through injury.

It led to six players making their debuts: Mark Quigley and Michael Timlin came into the starting line-up, with Joey O'Brien, Saul Deeney, John McAliskey and David Bell coming off the bench.

Given the experimental nature of the side, it was clear they were still getting to know one another when Almeida opened the scoring in the 16th minute.

Almeida doubled Portugal's lead in the 32nd minute from what appeared to be an offside position.

Ireland managed to hold their own after the interval, although Portugal continued to have more scoring opportunities.

The Republic of Ireland under-19s kicked off the La Manga Tournament with a 3-0 victory over Norway yesterday.

After dominating the first half, Ireland took the lead in the 43rd minute when Billy Clarke finished James Hand's cross.

A second goal arrived from Charlie Simmons five minutes into the second half before a third came five minutes from time through John Hayes.

Next up for Sean McCaffrey's side are the Czech Republic on Thursday afternoon.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-21 (v Portugal): Henderson (Notts County); Foley (Luton), Kelly (Tottenham), Fitzgerald (Bury), Timlin (Fulham); Whelan (Sheff Wed), Potter (Liverpool), Thornton (Sunderland); Flood (Man City), Quigley (Millwall), Yeates (Tottenham). Subs: Deeney (Notts Co) for Henderson, McAlliskey (Huddersfield) for Yeates, O'Brien (Sheff Wed) for Whelan, Bell (Rushden and Diamonds) for Potter.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND UNDER-19 (v Norway): Randolph (Charlton); Binnion (Sheff Utd), Elebert (Preston), R Keogh (Stoke), Gibson (Man Utd), Kelly (Unattached), Morris (Leeds), A Keogh (Leeds), Hand (Huddersfield), Dicker (UCD), Clarke (Ipswich). Subs: Simmons (Chelsea) for Kelly, Best (Southampton) for Clarke, Hayes (Reading) for A Keogh.