SOCCER/UNDER-21/Portugal 2 Rep of Ireland 0:THE REPUBLIC of Ireland succumbed to two late Portugal goals last night in a friendly match they were desperately unlucky not to get at least a draw from.

Although the far superior team for long spells, Ireland couldn’t pierce a Portuguese defence superbly guided by Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.

As the match at the Estádio Municipal de Águeda headed into the last 10 minutes Ireland were forced to play with a man less when Richie Towell was taken off injured on a stretcher and all seven substitutes has been used.

Portugal availed of the extra man when substitute Abel advanced from midfield with a minute left and unleashed a shot from 30 yards which rose high into the top corner of Michael Quirke’s goal.

Another substitute, Josué, compounded Ireland’s misery four minutes into stoppage time. Quirke’s delay in clearing the ball from his area was seized upon by the striker who had the easy task of tapping home into an empty net.

Ireland had earlier been denied a penalty award when, after Adam Barton and Conor Henderson exchanged passes on the half-way line and the latter slipped Aaron Doran through on goal, Hugo Costa’s clip on the attacker in the box went unpunished by the Portuguese referee Antonio Costa.

Adam Barton, making his Irish debut after recently switching from Northern Ireland, conjured the first shot on target after 25 minutes. A stray pass from the hosts’ left-back Joshua Silva was latched on to by the Preston North End midfielder 30 yards out and his snap-shot required goalkeeper Anthony Lopes to parry the effort.

His performance was one of the high points on the night for manager Noel King as he prepares for the European Championship qualifying campaign starting in September. King has one more friendly match lined up, against Austria in Sligo in August.

PORTUGAL: Lopes; Ivo Pinto, Joshua Silva, Faria, Costa, Martins, Viana, Ferreira, João Silva, Edu, Bebe. Subs used: Cristiano Figueiredo, Dani, João Pereira, Vitor Bastos, Ruben, David Simão, Josué, Ricardo Martins, Abel, Fredy.

REP OF IRELAND: McLoughlin; Connolly, Canavan , Kiernan, Gunning; Towell, Barton, Henderson; Clifford , Doran, O’Connor. Subs: Hourihane for O’Connor, Oyebanjofor Connolly, Duffy for Canavan, Quirke for McLoughlin (all 46 mins), Madden for Henderson (56 mins), Dunleavy for Gunning (67 mins), Murray for Doran (76 mins).

Referee: Antonio Costa (Portugal).