Irish youths third best in the world

A NEW generation of Ireland players graduated with honours in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday after a thrilling victory over Ghana, in the play-off for third place in the World Youth Championship.

In holding out in the face of tremendous second half pressure by the Africans, they became the first Irish team to get into the medals category in a major championship.

And in the manner in which the two goals were created and executed, first by Dessie Baker and later, Damien Duff, there was unmistakable proof of the new priorities with which they hope to conquer Europe and, perhaps in time, the world.

Both were things of beauty, the product of vision and skill in the first instance and decorated by the kind of flamboyant finish which for so long, we admired in others.

Ever since we got together at the start of our preparations in Limerick, we talked about this kind of football and how we hoped to make it work," said manager Brian Kerr. "How to hold the ball, look to make the penetrating final pass and then to finish in style.

"That was the aspiration and now, on the day when we needed to show the world that we were unlucky to lose to Argentina in the semifinal, it all came together for us. And it was a marvellous feeling."

It was a pleasure shared by some 200 vociferous Irish supporters in a crowd of 17,000 in the Shah Alam Stadium on a day when the warm, slanting rain accentuated the problems with which most of the European teams here, have had to contend.

It's true that the Irish net survived perilously on a couple of occasions and that on the balance of play, Ghana would not have been flattered by an equaliser to take the game into extra time.

That, some felt, was no more than the scales of justice at work for when the teams met at the start of the qualifying series, Kerr and his players felt hard done by in the 2-I scoreline in the Africans' favour.

It took character to bring their title challenge back on track after that reverse and it was this quality more than anything, which took them through another demanding test on Saturday. At times in the last l0 minutes, they were functioning on autopilot as the strain of seven games in less than three weeks, took its toll. But for all the pressure - and at times the thin line between survival and disaster was barely discernible - they kept their line intact for the last 86 minutes of the game.

"As our legs got more tired, we seemed to get stronger mentally and by setting ourselves targets. We eventually did better than any of us ever expected." said team captain Thomas Morgan.

"Ghana were so big and strong and so full of running, that we couldn't have asked for a harder game before going home. But we saw it through to the end and that was great."

Of Irish heroes on the day, there were many. Morgan led by example in the central role in midfield and even in these gruelling conditions, somehow managed to keep going until the sap ran dry in the closing minutes. As a passer of the ball, his timing and accuracy put him apart from most of the play-makers here, a point perfectly illustrated in the build up to Duff's goal.

There are occasions when Duff's style appears to border on lethargic. Yet on the ball, there has been no more exciting prospect in Irish football since Liam Brady. At 18, he is the youngest member of the squad but in terms of skill and his ability to produce the velvet touch at precisely the right moment, his potential is enormous.

Niall Inman's art and Alan Kirby's running power complemented him perfectly and ensured that the supply lines to the front two, Baker and Trevor Molloy were always kept open, even in situations in which Ghana were calling nearly all the shots after the interval. Molloy improved on his performance against Argentina and if only for the manner in which he took his goal, Baker justified his inclusion in place of the suspended Neale Fenn.

Yet, inevitably, perhaps, the bulk of the plaudits in a second half, which appeared to last forever, went to the defence. In fair weather and foul, this has been the great sustaining influence in the team and it showed again now, even though Aidan Lynch's first appearance was truncated by an injury after only 28 minutes.

Colin Hawkins was again immense in the pivotal position and in their varying ways, Robbie Ryan, Dave Worrell and Michael Cummins all contributed handsomely to the challenge of closing the routes to Derek O'Connor's goal.

Confronted by the type of pace and power which the athletic Ghanaians generate, they didn't always succeed and it was on those occasions that the goalkeeper again earned his keep with some outstanding saves, notably to deny the African striker, Peter Ofori-Quaye on two occasions.

Ghana's quietly spoken manager, Francis Oti-Akenteng praised those steely qualities but irritated the Irish when he said that it was defensive errors on his team's part, which proved their undoing.

That wasn't how most of us judged it, preferring to dwell on the impressive precision of the move which led to Baker opening the scoring in just 62 seconds, the quickest goal of the championship

It was Inman who picked out Duff with the pass to release the Blackburn player down the left and from that point, the Africans were lurching towards disaster. At the end of a powerful run, Duff was sufficiently composed to aim the centre at Baker and the Shelbourne man came across two defenders, to head a superb goal.

Baker didn't stop running to accept the congratulations of his team mates, until he reached the halfway line. And the rest of us hadn't stopped enthusing about the stealth of it all, when Ghana got in for an equaliser just three minutes later.

Paramount in their game plan is the virtue of running at defenders and the Irishmen, suitably warned by the manner in which the first game in Alor Setar developed, can scarcely have been surprised when their back four came under immediate pressure.

Yet, their goal when it arrived, had an unmistakable element of good fortune about it for Dini Kamara's shot was unquestionably going wide until Baba Sule stuck out a boot and deflected it past O'Connor.

That was ominous but after Molloy had been thwarted by Oscar Asamoah's sharp reflexes Ireland broke for the decisive goal in the 31st minute. Again, Morgans foot was on the pass which mattered and with the opposing defence split, Duff held his nerve to guide the ball between Asamoah and his left hand post.

From there to the end, Ghana were always the team more likely to score. But Irish discipline prevailed in some desperately tight situations and a notable landmark in the evolution of the game in this country, was finally reached.