Courtesy: FAI Futsal

Futsal latest: Dec 19, 2008 @ Loughborough: England 3 Ireland 3

IRELAND registered their first draw as a senior international futsal team tonight after a hectic game against England at Loughborough.

The scoring went one way then the other and ended with a thrilling climax.

After a solid start by the Irish, it was England who went ahead when the very impressive Rob Ursell dribbled through then had a shot deflected past keeper Keith Gallagher in the fifth minute.

Ireland eventually settled down and their discipline told with the English racking up five fouls relatively early in the half. This meant every foul afterwards produced a ten-metre free for the Irish.

Twice before the break England overstepped the mark discipline-wise and Dane Massey punished them with two excellent finishes.

After going in ahead at half-time, Ireland let their concentration drop early on in the second half and a sloppy set-piece resulted in England breaking down the court and Luke Ballinger beating sub keeper John Perkins to level i n the 23rd minute.

England then regained the lead when the brilliant technician Ursell dribbled through a bemused defence to beat Perkins. The defending was poor but the skills were fantastic.

Ireland were not going to lie-down easily and responded well with Alan Lynch netting the equaliser with four minutes left after good work by Shane O'Neill and Brendan Dawson.

England had hit the post through Ballinger and had a shot cleared off the line by O'Neill but overall the draw was a fair result.

Ireland meet Libya at 2.00pm tomorrow and England meet Lithuania at 6.00pm then the Irish meet Lithuania at 12.30pm on Sunday with the hosts meeting Libya in the final fixture at 4.00pm. Lithuania won their opening fixture 2-1 against the Libyans.

Starting Five: Keith Gallagher (gk), Gary McCabe, Ian Byrne, Mark Langtry (c), Dane Massey.
Substitutions: Thomas Morgan, Craig Duggan, Chris Allen, Alan Lynch, Philip Mc Donagh, Shane O'Neil, Loyd Massey, John Per kins (gk), Brendan Dawson.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com