Republic of Ireland 2 Romania 2

PAUL DOOLIN'S Ireland U19 side played out a highly entertaining draw with Romania in Blarney United's ground in Cork today.

Ireland took the lead just before the half-time whistle when captain Sam Byrne headed home Alex O'Hanlon's accurate free-kick. It was just reward for Ireland's first half efforts as they were actually unlucky not to take the lead after 30 minutes when Byrne's first time shot flew just wide.

Romania were in far more determined a mood after the break and striker George Puscas added to the brace he scored on Tuesday night when he drew goalkeeper Liam Bossin before slotting the ball home for an equalising goal.

Three minutes later Romania took the lead when Doru Popadiuc's effort took a cruel deflection off Kyle McFadden to wrong-foot Bossin.

Nine minutes later Ireland were back on level terms when Byrne scored the goal of the game. The Manchester United striker – on loan at Carlisle – took possession on the edge of the box before unleashing an unstoppable drive to the top right hand corner of the goal.

Ireland nearly snatched it near the end when only a phenomenal save from substitute goalkeeper Vlad Mutiu kept out Alex O'Hanlon's free-kick.

It was a very positive result for Ireland after losing Tuesday night's game with Doolin expressing his delight at the week's work.

"You have to be positive after that performance," said the coach. "What's important from my perspective is that the players we brought it in have certainly looked comfortable.

"The result isn't the most important aspect of these games. It's about seeing if one or two players will step up to the level and I feel that what we got over the two games.

"A draw was probably a fair outcome today but we could have snuck it at the end. Look, it's a positive result for us and it's been a good week," Doolin added.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: L Bossin, B McLaughlin, D Cleary, K McFadden, L Desmond, T Mulroney, D Murphy, A O'Hanlon, J O'Hanlon, A O'Sullivan, S Byrne. Subs: A Wixted for A O'Sullivan, C Dimaio for T Mulroney, N Baba for McLaughlin, A Browne for S Byrne.

ROMANIA: R Patrariu, R Bajan, D Dumitrascu, C Bocsan, C Achim, R Boboc, D Popadiuc, I Serban, D Rotariu, I Vina, G Puscas. Subs: C Barbut for Popadiuc, A Paun for Rotariu, B Vasile for Boboc, A Tarnovan for Puscas, N Vasile for Dumitrascu, A Cerlinca for Serban, V Mutiu for Patrariu.

Referee: K O'Regan

Ireland's line-up at Blarney United today