Peppard grabs winner in Hungary

Dominic Peppard from Trim scored the winning goal for the Republic of Ireland U-16 team got in the UEFA Development Tournament as they beat hosts Hungary in Telki today.

Two other Meath players, Cian Lee from Trim and Cian Hughes from Ratoath also featured in the victory for Paul Osam's side.

Ireland produced a dynamic display with the pace of their attacking players troubling the Hungarian defence.

The Irish went ahead in the 55th minute when Aaron Bolger produced a cross from the left and St Patrick's Athletic's Luke Nolan volleyed home from close range, but Hungary levelled in the 68th minute.

Ireland grabbed the winner two minutes from time as Dominic Peppard beat a couple of defenders then broke into the left side of the penalty area and fired in a low shot to snatch the win.

'It was a good win. It was a difficult game against a decent opponent. We started well and created some chances. We'd watched videos of them and felt we could make impact out wide against them. Callum Thompson did well down the left,' said the manager.

'We had five or six corners in the first 20 minutes. We went in at half-time comfortable enough and in the second half we did get a bit tired which was a concern.

'We felt we countered well. They had good possession in the second half without creating anything really. We defended well.

'After Hungary equalised we had to defend for our lives but looked good on the counter even in that spell. Dominic Peppard scored an excellent goal.

'Overall we've shown good improvement since the last games against Turkey and were better in the areas that we needed to be better in. We'll prepare for our next game against Austria.'

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND - Brian Maher, Cian Lee, Lee O'Connor, Joe Redmond, Dominic Peppard, Aaron Bolger, Jordan Doherty, Conor Coventry, Rowan Roache, Cian Murphy, Callum Thompson.

Subs - Luke Nolan for Roache and Cian Hughes for Coventry both 53 mins, Adam Idah for Murphy 66m, Marc Walsh for Lee and Richie O'Farrell for Doherty both 70m.

RESULTS & FIXTURES

UEFA U16 Development Tournament
Monday - Hungary 1, Republic of Ireland 2.
Wednesday - Republic of Ireland v Austria, (4pm Irish time)
Friday - Slovakia v Republic of Ireland, (10am Irish time)