Malaysia U23 1-3 Republic of Ireland U23: The Republic of Ireland opened their Under-23 Intercontinental Cup tournament campaign with a 3-1 victory over hosts Malaysia today.
Two goals from Michael Collins gave Ireland a two goal cushion at the break before captain Stephen Ward added a third in the second half.
Malaysia pulled a goal back deep into stoppage time with a header from Sali.
Republic of Ireland manager Don Givens gave starting debuts to five players and expressed his satisfaction with the display.
"The result is a great start for us in the tournament," said the manager. "Malaysia were a good technical side and they caused us a few problems.
"We had a young, inexperienced team out on the pitch and they performed well to get the three points. The only part that disappointed me was some of our defending in the second half.
"The hot weather was always going to be a problem for us but I felt we dealt well with it. All of the lads are very tired after the game."
Collins opened the scoring on 22 minutes with a glancing header from Keith Treacy's pinpoint right-wing delivery.
Huddersfield Town man Collins scored again four minutes later from a fantastic low drive which was drilled home from the edge of the penalty area to give the Malaysian goalkeeper no chance.
Collins almost netted his and Ireland's third goal three minutes before the break with another stinging shot from distance. On this occasion, the effort went narrowly wide of the post.
Ireland only needed 11 minutes after the restart to extend their lead to 3-0. Billy Clarke did the spadework with a great run and cross from the right flank and perfectly placed to head home from close range was Ireland captain Stephen Ward.
The humid conditions caught up with the Irish players during the last 20 minutes and Givens introduced three substitutes to freshen things up. The appearances of James Ryan and Stephen Maher brought the total number of debutants to seven.
As full-time approached, Malaysia scored four minutes into added time to make it 3-1 through Sali's firm header which powered past Irish goalkeeper Shane Redmond.
Ireland follow up today's group opener at the eight-nation Asia event by meeting tournament favourites, Nigeria, this Saturday at11.30am Irish time.
The group stage finishes next Monday, May 19th, with Iraq providing the opposition (1.45pm Irish time) .
Chile, Australia, Croatia and Ghana are competing in the other Group with the winner of each pool qualifying for the final.
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