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Last week saw five SKB players involved in the Irish under 17 International squad they finished their UEFA Championships Elite Qualifying Round fixtures with a 2-2 draw with Georgia in Belgrade yesterday.
Tom Mohan's side exit the tournament pleased to pick up a point after defeats against Serbia and Germany but disappointed not to return with all three points from this fixture.
Ireland led 2-0 with five minutes left but in the testing 27C heat they were caught by two late Georgian strikes and had to settle for a share of the spoils.
Nathan Corkery had headed Ireland in front in the 23rd minute when he got his head to a Tom Holland corner.
Mohan's side looked to have sealed the victory in the 75th minute when Shelbourne's Adam McDonnell produced a stunning strike from 25-yards to fire home after good work by Holland, Anto Breslin and Conor Masterson in the build-up.
Unfortunately for the Irish Georgia pulled one back just two minutes later when Giorgi Kiknadze smashed home from distance and then two minutes into injury-time the game was levelled when Irakli Kamladze finished off a counter-attack by slipping the ball under the advancing Connor.
Shane Elworthy was unfortunate not to snatch a dramatic winner for Ireland less than a minute later but keeper Kurdadze made a block and the ball was cleared to safety.
"The result probably sums up the week for us because the players definitely deserved to win the game. The first half display was brilliant - they played really well and created numerous chances," said Mohan.
Serbia drew with Germany in the other game in Group Six. The Germans will top the group to progress to the final in Malta and Mohan believes his side showed up well in a very testing group.
"The boys played really well. It's been a hell of an experience for them. They've witnessed the cruelty of the game but they can be proud of they performed.
"It's been a tough week but I could have asked more from the players and staff who all worked extremely hard."
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Connor, Breslin, Kane, Holland, Best, McDonnell, Elworthy, Poynton (c), Kinsella (Masterson 54), Corkery (Dolan 57), Devers.
GEORGIA: Kurdadze; Kobuladze, Kakiashvili, Nadaraia, Goshteliani, Beridze (Gaprindashvili 64), Jobava, Arabidze (Kiknadze 41), Mikeltadze (Murjikneli 76), Tvaradze, Kamladze.
RESULTS
Wednesday, March 26
UEFA U17 Championship Elite Round Group 5
Serbia 2 Republic of Ireland 1, Stara Pazova (SRB)
Friday, March 28
UEFA U17 Championship Elite Round Group 5
Germany 3 Republic of Ireland 0, FK Obilić, Belgrade (SRB)
Monday, March 31
UEFA U17 Championship Elite Round Group 5
Republic of Ireland 2 Georgia 2, FK Obilić, Belgrade (SRB)
