Limerick's John Ryan impresses as Ireland U15s draw with Spain

LIMERICK teenager John Ryan turned in an impressive display as the Republic of Ireland U15s drew 1-1 with Spain in their opening match of an International Tournament in Spain this Wednesday afternoon.

Ireland took the lead against their hosts on the stroke of half-time. A brilliant counter-attack saw Cian Kelly score past Spanish goalkeeper Cesar Fernandez to give the team the lead at the break.

Spain equalised through David Pecellin in the 50th-minute and neither team were able to break down the opposition's defence before full-time.

Under tournament rules, all drawn matches conclude with a penalty shootout, as the home side scored all four of their efforts to win 4-1. Tommy Fogarty scored Ireland's only penalty.

Fourteen year-old John Ryan has already featured for Ireland in two friendly internationals against Poland in Police last November.

Ryan, a third year student at Castletroy College, is a past pupil of Milford NS and Gaelscoil Castletroy.

The talented teenager initially played his schoolboy soccer locally with Aisling Annacotty.

In 2017, Ryan joined St Kevin’s Boys, of Dublin. At the start of last  year he signed for Shamrock Rovers.

Ireland play their second match of the tournament on Friday afternoon. They play the Netherlands at 4pm (5pm Spanish time), before Sunday's concluding fixture against Hungary.

Jason Donohue, the Republic of Ireland Head Coach said: “Our game plan worked well. We played compactly in the first half, and deserved to go in at the break in the lead. Our back four and holding players were excellent. I think all the players were, especially in our off-season.”

With two more games to come this week, Donohue hopes the team will be able to cope with the demands, especially as the home-based players are in pre-season.

"We have brought a squad of 20 with us. There will be a lot of changes for the Netherlands game on Friday. The players that didn't play today will be fresh for that match", Donohue concluded.

SPAIN: Cesar Fernandez; Sergio Bernardez, Cristian Mosquera, Diego Almeida, Juan Larios; Tomas Mendes, Aitor Gismera (capt), Marcio Vidal; Robert Carril, Angel Alarcon, Marcos Denia

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Aaron Maguire; Tommy Fogarty, Ben Curtis (capt), Darragh Reilly, John Ryan; Glory Nzingo, Luke McGlynn (Jamie Mullins 50), John Joe Power (Evan Ferguson 44); Conor Campbell (Ben Quinn 36), Michael Leddy (Aaron O'Reilly 54), Cian Kelly (Edwin Agbaje 44)

REFEREE: Jose Joaquin Gallego Gambin (ESP)