Irish make commanding start

The Republic of Ireland under-17s opened their challenge at the Meridian Cup with a comprehensive, though potentially costly, win over hosts South Africa at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town yesterday.

First-half goals from David McMahon, his fifth in six games, and Gary Dempsey gave Ireland their win, a scoreline that flattered an albeit collectively younger and smaller South African team. It was a victory marred by the sending-off of Irish central defender Jim Goodwin 15 minutes from the end.

Goodwin will miss both of Ireland's remaining group games, with Spain tomorrow and African champions Egypt on Monday, while the FAI may also receive a fine.

Ireland were in complete command before the incident which also gave South Africa their goal from a resultant penalty.

Goodwin claims he was continually fouled throughout the game by South Africa's Fablurashman Davids. Goodwin retaliated with a kick in the 75th minute and was sent off by German referee Herbert Fandel. "I've apologised to the rest of the team as I know it was very stupid of me to get involved like that," said Goodwin afterwards. "He had been at me all through the game and I just got a rush of blood to the head."

Manager Brian Kerr was equally annoyed by the sending-off but claims that the penalty should not have been given as it happened when the ball was out of play.

"It was silly for Jim to retaliate, but it shouldn't have been a penalty as well because it happened off the ball when it was also out of play," said Kerr. "Down to 10 men, we came under a little pressure for the first time in the match. But we were never really tested." In a comical conclusion to the incident, Gabriel Mofokeng beat Irish goalkeeper Joe Murphy from the spot but the ball burst through a hole in the net, initially confusing the Irish bench and many in a crowd of some 3,000 who thought it had gone wide.

With cloud cover reducing the temperature to a more amenable 26 degrees, Ireland utterly ran the match from the start, forcing five corners inside the opening 10 minutes.

Holding on to possession for long spells, the chances came thick and fast right from the start with McMahon heading just over from a cross by Dessie Byrne, a surprise choice at right-back, after two minutes.

Unsteady South African goalkeeper Baxton Hein was struggling to keep Ireland out, flapping at an Andy Reid corner before defender Nasief Morris cleared the ball off the line on 10 minutes.

It was a brief reprieve for a stretched South African defence and it was no surprise at all when Ireland finally took the lead after 17 minutes.

It came from deep, with Reid playing a sublime ball forward to split the home defence. McMahon showed a good turn of pace and, with equally impressive composure, held off two defenders before shooting low past Hein from just inside the area.

The South Africans, while good on the ball, passed poorly and looked somewhat disorganised at times and Ireland continued to create chances almost at will.

Brendan McGill volleyed over while Dessie Byrne skipped forward past several tackles to drill a shot wide before the deserved second goal arrived on 35 minutes. Dessie Byrne's diagonal ball was headed down by captain Shaun Byrne for Dempsey, who took a touch before shooting right-footed past Hein.

Not having been in the match at all in the first half, the South Africans enjoyed more of the ball after the break, with the wind behind them, but still didn't register their first corner until the 68th minute.

Ireland reorganised to a 4-4-1 system after the sending-off and penalty seven minutes later, but were scarcely troubled as they restricted the South Africans to one shot on goal from substitute Gerald Devine 10 minutes from the end, and easily held firm to take the three points and go into tomorrow's game with Spain as Group A leaders.

South Africa: School of Excellence FC), Morris; Zonke, Nxele, Birkwa ni, Masegela, Potgieter; Reoton, Davids. Subs: Devine for Reoton (half-time), April for Isaac (51 mins), Lesch for Birkwani (70 mins).

Republic Of Ireland: Murphy (Tranmere Rovers); D Byrne (Stockport County), O'Shea (Manchester United), Goodwin (Celtic), Foy (Nottingham Forest); Dempsey (Everton), Miller (Celtic), S Byrne (West Ham United); McGill (Sunderland), McMahon (Newcastle United), Reid (Nottingham Forest). Subs: Butler for McGill (69 mins), Thompson (Nottingham Forest) for Reid (75 mins), Warren (Mayfield United) for McMahon (87 mins.).

Referee: H Fanzel (Germany).