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16-year-old striker makes debut as Ireland undone by Belgium

Emily Kraft started as a youthful side could not find a way past their stubborn opponents.

Updated at 18.49

IRELAND SUFFERED A disappointing start to their 2019 campaign with a 1-0 friendly loss to Belgium at the Pinatar Arena in Murcia, Spain today.

Elena Dhont scored the game’s only goal on 16 minutes, with a clinical finish after some sloppy play at the back.

Ireland landed in Spain with an inexperienced squad — of the 21 players that travelled, 10 are teenagers.

With star striker Leanne Kiernan unavailable through injury, 16-year-old German-born attacker Emily Kraft made her debut.

17-year-old Shelbourne youngster Isibeal Atkinson, who was making her first start, joined Kraft in a youthful attack, while the team also contained experience in the form of Louise Quinn, Niamh Fahey and captain Katie McCabe.

17-year-old midfielder Tyler Toland and Megan Connolly also returned to the starting XI, after their recent absences through injury and college commitments respectively.

Ireland had chances after going behind through Dhont’s strike. Quinn went close with a header that came back off the post, while McCabe saw her goal-bound effort blocked amid a tight affair.

19-year-old Peamount attacker Niamh Farrelly was another debutant after the break, as she replaced Claire O’Riordan, who departed the action after suffering a head injury.

For all their endeavour, however, Colin Bell’s side could not find a way past their stubborn opponents.

“I can’t fault the effort of the players. They’ve had a great week of training and they’ve continued until the very last minute,” Bell said afterwards.

Belgium are a strong side and they will do well, no doubt. The disappointing thing is that we’ve lost the game without being outclassed. The goal they scored was down to our mistake and that is extremely frustrating.

“We’re missing a few players but that gave the opportunity to some other players today. If you look at the players we’ve brought on, we’ve played two 16-year olds, three 17-year olds and 18-year olds, so this is a great experience for the younger players. 

“Emily Kraft deserved to start today after a fantastic week of training and showed that she can compete at this level. She had to go up against a strong Belgian defence, both centre-backs have over 50 caps, and she caused them problems. 

“There were real positives for us to take forward but we need to make sure we’re not giving the opposition an opportunity to win the game like we did.”

Republic of Ireland: Marie Hourihan; Heather Payne, Megan Connolly, Niamh Fahey (Jessica Ziu 68), Louise Quinn, Harriet Scott (Claire O’Riordan 51 (Niamh Farrelly 86)), Tyler Toland, Denise O’Sullivan, Katie McCabe, Isibeal Atkinson (Emily Whelan 76), Emily Kraft (Amber Barrett 76).

Belgium: Nicky Evrard; Davina Philtjens (Davinia Vanmechelen 64), Tine Decaigny, Lenie Onzia (Chloe Vande Velde 63), Shari Van Belle, Elena Dhont (Heleen Jaques 64), Janice Cayman, Laura De Neve (Ella Van Kerkhoven 83), Julie Biesmans, Laura Deloose, Kassandra Missipo.  

Referee: Zulema Gonzalez Gonzalez (Spain).

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