Two first-half goals made Blackburn Rovers striker Robert Doyle the toast of Brian Kerr's Irish under-17s as they did just enough to beat a talented French team in a friendly international at Baldonnel last night.
Ireland survived the pacey probings of Wilfred Dalmat up their left flank early on to take a firm hold on the game with two goals inside three minutes.
The first, on 24 minutes, was somewhat fortuitous when French goalkeeper Jody Vivani and his left back, Michel Gafour, got their wires crossed under pressure from Doyle; Gafour's attempted clearance struck Doyle and ended up in the net off the back-tracking Cedric Vanoukia who tried to clear it from under his crossbar, though Doyle was quick to claim the goal.
There was no ambiguity about Doyle's second goal three minutes later, however. The powerfully-built youngster let fly from all of 30 yards with a right-foot shot that flew into the net. Dalmat forced a save from Irish goalkeeper Barry Roche on 32 minutes before a brilliant piece of defending by David van Zantan a minute before the break somehow kept out a shot from Gregory Lacombe, the Irish rightback clearing the ball off the crossbar.
France had much the better of the second-half as they chased the game, but Ireland defended superbly. The closest France came to scoring came on 56 minutes when Lacombe forced Roche into an excellent save when tipping the French midfielder's shot onto the crossbar.
Republic of Ireland: Roche (Nottingham Forest); van Zantan (Celtic), Oman (Rivermount), Byrne (Sunderland), Murphy (QPR); Field (Arsenal), Creamer (Leeds Utd), Cawley (Leeds Utd), Keane (Preston North End); Doyle (Blackburn Rovers), Meade (Millwall). Subs: Houlihan (Belvedere) for Meade (58 mins); Melligan (Wolves) and Gamble (Cork City) for Field and Keane (both 75 mins); Travers (Leeds Utd), Grimes (Tolka Rovers) and Keating (Limerick) for Roche, Murphy and Oman (all 90 mins).
France: Vivani (Montpellier); Soumare (Le Havre), Vanoukia (Stade Rennais), Bodmar (Caen), Gafour (Marseille); Fontenette (Paris St Germain), Aernoudt (Nantes), Lacombe (Monaco), Frutos (Metz); Falmat (Nantes), Viale (Lyonnais). Subs: Coque (Lille) for Vivani (half-time); Llorente (Montpellier), Leroy (Auxerre) and Tanegaoui (Caen) for Frutos, Viale and Dalmat (all 59 mins); Breillier and Bamogo (both Montpellier) for Fontenette and Aernoudt (both 75 mins); Cardosa (Stafe Lavallois) for Soumare (83 mins.).
Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).
