Republic of Ireland U-19 2 Georgia U-19 3: The Republic of Ireland under-19s lost out by the odd goal in their European Elite qualification game against Georgia yesterday in Senec, Slovakia.
It was Ireland's third defeat from three games and the only thing at stake was avoiding last place against the Georgians, who had also lost their opening two games. But Georgia got two early goals when Rati Tsinamdzghvrishvili opened the scoring with a header on 10 minutes and Gulverd Tomashvili doubled their advantage three minutes later.
Ireland battled back and Celtic defender Darren O'Dea had a goal ruled for a foul. However, skipper John Paul Kelly did find the net on 26 minutes when he ran onto a nice Billy Clarke pass to score.
Leeds United full-back Simon Madden had a goal disallowed for offside shortly after half-time but Ireland were left with a mountain to climb when Georgia added a third with 15 minutes to go from Beka Gotsiridze.
Adam Rooney scored his second of the tournament when heading home a cross from by substitute Jonathan Hayes.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: D Randolph (Charlton); S Madden (Leeds Utd), E Nolan (Blackburn), D O'Dea (Celtic), M Reilly (unattached); J O'Brien (Celtic), M Spillane (Norwich), I Morris (Leeds Utd), J P Kelly (Bohemians); A Rooney (Stoke), B Clarke (Ipswich). Subs: A Stokes (Arsenal) for Clarke (60 mins), J Hayes (Reading) for O'Brien (73 mins), S Gleeson (Wolves) for Spillane (77 mins).
