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06.10.2000 at 19:00 Municipal - Marinha Grande
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Attendance: |
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Referee: Eric Blareau (BEL) |
European Qualifier-match |
Candido Costa 63 mins,
Ednilson 76 mins,
Semedo 81 mins |
Michael Reddy (45)
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Ferreira for Almeida 62 mins,
Semedo for Paulo Costa 76 mins,
Alhandra for Candido Costa 84 mins, |
Damien Lynch -> Alan Quinn (69)
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Portugal 3 Ireland 1
Ireland u21 manager Don Givens saw his charges play the best football of his short reign in the first half of their European Championship qualifier against Portugal - and then blow it all away with a shocking second half.
Ireland announced their intentions right from the off, with Sheffield Wednesday's Alan Quinn drawing a save from Leite after good work by Michael Reddy and James O'Connor.
Givens went for a bold but risky strategy, playing Arsenal's Graham Barrett - a natural forward - as one of his midfielders. The ploy worked well as long as Ireland were going forward.
Sunderland striker Reddy caused constant problems with his pace and he was the next to test Leite, skipping past two defenders before forcing the Portuguese 'keeper to save.
Towards the end of the half, Portugal began to exert more influence - but it was then that Ireland scored.
Barrett played in Gary Doherty and the Tottenham striker delivered the perfect cross for Reddy to put Ireland in front.
The home side restarted determined to rectify things and they went close to equalising almost immediately when Miguel's shot came back off the inside of the post.
It was no surprise when Candido Costa made the breakthrough on 63 minutes, racing through the centre fo the Irish defence to hit an unstoppable shot past Dean Delaney.
That opened the floodgates. Thirteen minutes later, Ednilson curled a free kick into Delaney's top-left corner.
Then, with nine minutes to go, the Port Vale 'keeper made a mess of a through ball and Semedo had the simple task of tapping into an empty net.
Republic of Ireland: Dean Delaney (Port Vale), Colin Healy (Glasgow Celtic), John O'Shea (Manchester United), Jason Gavin (Middlesbrough), Clive Clarke (Stoke City), Barry Quinn (Coventry), Alan Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), James O'Connor (Stoke City), Graham Barrett (Arsenal), Michael Reddy (Sunderland), Gary Doherty (Tottenham)
Subs: Damien Lynch (Leeds United) for Alan Quinn 69
Unused subs: Brendan Murphy (Kidderminster), John McGrath (Aston Villa), Richie Partridge (Liverpool), Steve Hunt (Crystal Palace), Martin Rowlands (Brentford), Liam Millar (Glasgow Celtic)
Booked: Michael Reddy 70
Goal: Michael Reddy 45
Manager: Don Givens
Portugal: Leite, Tonel, Caneira, Faisca, Fredy, Leal, Almeida, Ednilson, C Costa, P Costa, Miguel
Subs: Ferreira for Almeida 63, Semedo for P Costa 77, De Assuncao for C Costa 86
Unused subs: Henriques, Martins Carreira, Rodrigues Fernandes, Ribeiro
Goals: C Costa 63, Ednilson 76, Semedo 81
Referee: E Blareau (Belgium) |
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