Northern Ireland’s Women’s Under-15 development team lost to a Republic of Ireland U15 Schoolgirls’ team in a friendly at the weekend.
The Republic had the upper hand during the first half of the match at Newforge in south Belfast, while Northern Ireland had the better of it after the break.
The visitors put Northern Ireland under pressure from the start and they opened the scoring on 20 minutes before adding a second five minutes later.
Coach Stephen Graham rallied the WU15s at half-time and they were much more positive in the second period.
Five minutes after the restart they pulled a goal back through Emilee Leacock.
They kept the pressure on and had a second goal controversially ruled out for offside. It was Leacock who once again applied the finish only for the ref to disallow it.
Northern Ireland then missed a couple of gilt-edged chances to draw level with the visitors.
With 10 minutes remaining the Republic broke on the counter and scored against the run of play to make it 3-1 – and that’s how it finished.
Northern Ireland WU15 squad:
Goalkeepers – Madison Bell, Zara McAvoy.
Defenders – Chloe Beckinsale, Daisy Moore, Holly Hilton, Grace Campbell.
Midfielders – Charlotte Havern, Abbie Smyth, Mirijana Karrabecaj, Heidi Curran, Emilee Leacock, Jemima Hernen.
Forwards – Ava Hurl, Grace McAllister, Aoife Gargan, Ruby Adair, Maja Stachura, Sophie Graham.
