Under-21 Tournament / Rep of Ireland 1 Italy 0:Liam Kearney, somewhat controversially, put the Republic of Ireland under-21s in contention for silverware yesterday as his winning goal against Italy gave Ireland a chance of claiming the Madeira International Tournament.
Ireland go into the final round of games level on points with Portugal, though, in theory, with a far easier game against a Madeira Island selection while the Portuguese face a difficult clash with an Italian side furious that they have failed to win either of their two games to date.
Ireland won a free kick in the 81st minute on the right wing which was swung over by Glenn Whelan for Stephen Paisley who helped it back across goal where Kearney rose to head goalwards.
The ball seemed destined for the net before Italy goalkeeper Emanuele Bianchi managed to get a hand to the ball, but the assistant referee deemed that the ball had already crossed the line and awarded a goal.
Despite a below-par performance, Ireland were the better team with Italy only testing Wayne Henderson sporadically with cutting counter-attacks.
ITALY: Bianchi; Perico, Creanze, Ceccarelli, Vitiello; Mancino, Berardi, Pederzilo (Armenise ht), Gazzi; Ruopolo, Masini (Vianello ht).
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Henderson; Kelly (Whelan ht), Cooney, Paisley, Kohlmann; Flood, Keegan (Cregg ht), Foley, Kearney; Murphy (Doyle 68), Bradley (Deane (68).
