The Irish team in Moldova went straight to the top of the their UEFA Under-18 qualifying group table yesterday when they beat Azerbaijan 4-2 in their first game of the tournament.
Liam George opened the scoring for the Irish in the 18th minute with a close-range shot after Gary Doherty had headed down Damien Duff's free kick from the right. Ronnie O'Brien added a second six minutes later after George and fullback Damien Lynch had combined well in midfield.
Tagui-Zade Zaur pulled one back for Azerbaijan in the 26th minute, but the Irish made sure of the points when Robbie Keane set up George for his second and the Luton player then rounded off an outstanding performance by putting Keane through for the fourth on the hour.
Imamaliev Emir made it 4-2 with 17 minutes left to play, but Duff might have added another two for the Irish who dominated the game for long spells of time.
Republic Of Ireland: Dean Delaney (Everton), Damien Lynch (Leeds), Keith Doyle (Saint Patrick's Athletic), Gary Doherty (Luton), Richard Dunne (Everton), Ronnie O'Brien (Midlesbrough), Stephen McPhail (Leeds), Barry Quinn (Coventry), Liam George (Luton), Robbie Keane (Wolves), Damien Duff (Blackburn). Substitutes: Ryan Casey (Swansea) for Quinn, Paul Donnelly (Leeds) for George.
Irish Youth Team manager Brian Kerr is featured in this week's Thursday Interview on page 15.
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