A COUPLE of unfortunate errors proved costly as the Republic of Ireland lost their opening game in the World Youth Championship finals in Alor Setar, Malaysia, yesterday.
Outplayed in the early stages by the Ghanaians, the World under-17 champions two years ago, the Irish rallied in the second half to take control and were unfortunate to lose when they lost possession from a kick-out in the 66th minute and Mohamed-Kamil Mouktar stole in for the winner.
In the opening 30 minutes the Ghanaians hit the post and Blackburn's David Worrell was lucky to get back to clear after goalkeeper Derek O'Connor had been lobbed by Peter Ofori-Quaye.
Ireland were unable to prevent the Africans from scoring in the 27th minute. It was Mouktar again who did the damage as he beat David Whittle wide on the left and his cross was met by Bushiru Gambo, and the Borussia Dortmund player drove it home off a post.
But Ireland came back strongly and a wonderful five-man move involving Robbie Ryan, Thomas Morgan, Neale Fenn, Damien Duff and Trevor Molloy led to Molloy scoring the equaliser.
After 63 minutes, Damien Duff's cross was touched on by Molloy to Fenn but his shot was blocked for a corner. Then a minute later, John Burns was just over the top when put in possession by Morgan.
But a loss of concentration by the Irish defence allowed the Ghanaians to gain possession following a kick out and the ball was fed in for Mouktar to hit the winner from close range.
Even then Ireland had chances to save the game, particularly Glen Crowe who, with his first touch after replacing Damien Duff, had a shot blocked.
Despite their defeat, thee spirits are high and Ireland can still qualify from their group when they meet the United States and China.
The Americans beat the Chinese with an injury time goal in their game which followed the Irish-Ghana match.
"People were surprised I think at the quality and class of the Ghanaians but I think we showed today that we have some fine footballers," said manager Brian Kerr afterwards.
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