Ireland's U21 European Championship hopes alive after seven-goal thriller at Turner's Cross
Tommy Lonergan of Republic of Ireland, third from left, celebrates after scoring the winner against Kazakhstan at Turner's Cross. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The Ireland U21s needed an 86th-minute penalty from Tommy Lonergan to see off Kazakhstan at the Munster FA Turner’s Coss Stadium and bring their European Championship qualifying campaign down to the final game.
The Boys in Green now need England to get a result against Slovakia on Friday, and get something themselves from their meeting with Lee Carsley’s side in Cork next Tuesday. It looked like another campaign was going to come down to a hard-luck story when Kazakhstan scored inside 30 seconds with a blistering strike from Artyom Litosh into the Shed End.
It took some time for Ireland to get over the shock as early attempts from Cathal McCarthy and Lonergan failed to trouble the Kazakhstan defence.
What was clear during these exchanges is that there was a clear way through, it just kept leading to corners at the St Anne’s End.
The Boys in Green scored on their third, sent in by Jamie Mullins in the 21st minute. The set-piece went to a roaming Murphy at the near post and the full-back stabbed the ball in for the equaliser.
Any sense of tension around the ground seemed to go with the goal, as Ireland settled into a period of prolonged in possession with chances plentiful. Adam Brennan led that charge, with the winger gaining the most ground while his crosses failed to find a white and green shirt.
Ireland eventually went through the middle with Murphy finding Trent Kone Doherty, and the winger slipped the ball through to Lonergan.
The striker weaved past Ali Turganov towards the Kazakhstan goalkeeper, who came off his line in an attempt to close down. All the shot-stopper did was divert the ball to Mullins for a cool finish into an empty net in the 29th minute as Ireland led 2-1.
Any sense of relief was undone with a Ramazan Karimov strike in the 38th minute that sailed in to make it 2-2. Out of the rush from the equaliser came a shot from Miras Omatay that hit the woodwork and Doherty responded by stinging the palms of Kalmurza.
The game restarted in the best possible way as Sam Curtis saw a header turned in via a deflection, putting Ireland ahead at 3-2 in the 48th minute.
Kazakhstan seemed to reply like they always did, this time from a corner that was fumbled over the goal line by Sultan Askarov in the 52nd minute.
This completely changed the mood inside the ground as Ireland had to go again, and each passing second seemed to raise the level of tension around the terraces.
It came down to a penalty won off a foul committed by Kalmurza on an onrushing Lonergan and the striker neatly converted.
Kazakhstan were reduced to ten men as they chased another equaliser, with Litosh sent off for violent conduct. All this did was help Ireland’s cause, a mission that will conclude against England at Turner’s Cross.
Noah Jauny; Sam Curtis, Cathal McCarthy, Sean Grehan, Alex Murphy; Rory Finneran, Jacob Devaney, Trent Kone Doherty, Jamie Mullins, Adam Brennan; Tommy Lonergan.
Darius Lipsiuc for Curtis (70); Romeo Akachukwu for Brennan (70), Michael Noonan for Finneran (81), Leon Ayinde for Grehan (81), David Okagbue for Lonergan (87).
Sherhan Kalmurza; Sagi Malikaidar, Sultan Askarov, Ali Turganov, Ramazan Karimov; Zhansultan Mukhametkhanov, Abinur Nurymbet; Yan Trufanov, Miras Omatay, Saif Popov; Artyom Litosh.
Mukhamedali Abish for Omatay (66); Magzhan Toktybay for Popov (66), Mansur Birkurmanov for Trufanov (77), Salamat Zhumabekov for Mukhametkhanov (77).
Loïc Thomas (Luxembourg)
App?
