Republic of Ireland Men's Under-16s played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Switzerland in Oliva Nova, Spain this afternoon.All the goals came in the second half with Shamrock Rovers' James Roche and Bohemians' Luca Callicoe finding the net for Ireland. Dion Cakolli and Eilano Guido hit the goals for Switzerland.Ireland were boosted by the return of five players who featured for Colin O'Brien's MU17s last week. Marcus Gill, Matthew Moore, Ike Orazi, Matthew Murray and Mason Melia all started.But it was Switzerland who began brighter and came close in the 10th minute. Celtic's Gill was forced into a smart save down to his left to deny Neil Volken from close range. Egor Vassenin was on the spot to clear the loose ball from off the line.In the 18th minute Vassenin went close with a direct free-kick but his effort couldn't find the inside of Elia Pecora post and both teams went in at the break scoreless.
ALL THE GOALS | #IRLU16 | 🇨🇭2-2 🇮🇪
James Roche and Luca Callicoe on target for Ireland against Switzerland today ⚽️
Report 📰👉 https://t.co/npOVMsgaLr#COYBIG | #WeAreOne pic.twitter.com/vK2hsGy9X8— FAIreland ⚽️🇮🇪 (@FAIreland) February 15, 2023
The game soon came alive in the second half. Ireland were ahead in the 47th minute through Roche. A corner delivered into the box was headed goalwards by the defender, it took a deflection on its way to goal and managed to evade Pecora for Ireland to take the lead.However their lead was short lived when Switzerland struck back. Dion finished a one-on-one to equalise for the Swiss in the 52nd minute and in the 70th minute Guido netted a second with a composed finish after rounding Gill.Three-minutes later Ireland were level. A free-kick out wide taken by Richard Vodo was met by Callicoe whose powerful header couldn't be kept out the net despite Pecora's getting a hand to it.That would be the end of the scoring with both teams set to meet each other again on Friday afternoon at the same venue.Republic of Ireland: Gill, Coffey, Callicoe, Roche, Vassenin (Fitzgerald, 79), M. Moore (C), Sean Moore (Umeh, 61), Vodo (Ring, 82), Orazi (Solanke, 79), Murray (O'Donnell, 61), Melia (Ochoa Moloney, 82) Switzerland: Pecora, Akahomen, Rufener, Ajdin, Cakolli, Tirpanci, Rau, Volken, Sommer, Santor, RexhajSubstitutes: Sinanaj, Bieler, Niedermann, Philippin, Kospo, Aguilar, Tairi, Turhan, Coric, Cassese, Guido, MorenoReferee: Alberto Sánchez (Spain)International Friendly Result/Fixture15.02.23 | Switzerland MU16 2-2 Ireland MU1617.02.23 | Switzerland MU16 v Ireland MU16, Oliva Nova, Spain, KO 12pm
