Two Meath players feature in final victory shield game

The Republic of Ireland U-16 side completed their Victory Shield tournament in Wales yesterday where were held to a 1-1 draw by Scotland in their final fixture in Newport.

Three Meath players, Cian Lee, Cian Hughes and Dominic Peppard featured in the panel over the three games and yesterday Cian Lee played the full game with Cian Hughes introduced as a substitute. 

Manager Paul Osam saw side lead through a first-half Aaron Bolger goal, but they conceded a second-half penalty and were unfortunate not to force a winner.

'We played quite well in the first half and scored a very good goal. The performance was as good as it was in the first two games although Scotland were very good,' said Osam.

'The players have learned a lot from playing games and the limited time we have with them in terms of roles and responsibilities.

'That takes time and we don't have the time to go through everything with them. We tried to give them an understanding of the system and the Emerging Talent Programme has been a huge help as they've come through that process.

'We'll now sit down and look at the rest of the season. The UEFA Development Tournament is in Hungary in May and between now and then we'll look to get them together as much as we can within the budgetary confinements,' he added.