The Irish underage teams had their first outings of 2022, taking in fixtures in Lilleshall for the Under-18s and in Zwolle in the Netherlands for the Under-16s.
For the Under-18 boys, they started off at a high tempo against the Netherlands. The Dutch did see a first quarter stroke saved by Conor Murphy while Charlie Rowe had a goal disallowed as the Oranje eventually went on to win 1-0.
In game two, a strong, clinical Belgian side showed their strength and experience. A first Irish goal for Ben Pollock came from play while Harry Dagg scored a penalty corner rebound with the junior Red Lions winning 4-2.
The highlight of the weekend came against England Monday when a touch from Conor Matthews put Ireland in the lead in the second quarter and they held out for the rest of the match to bag the win.
The squad featured 12 first caps from the 22 traveling players this weekend. The side is supported by Comit.ie and Emtek.co.uk.
U18 Boys
Ireland 0 Netherlands 1
Ireland 2 Belgium 4
Ireland 1 England 0
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The Under-18 girls also had their strongest outcome in game three when they drew 0-0 with England with both sides having their chances but defences held firm.
Belgium had earlier edged Ireland out 2-1 with Darcy McGall scoring the Irish goal. The Netherlands, meanwhile, were and outstanding outfit who won out 12-1, Anna Pim scoring a brilliant corner flick in a strong second half showing.
U18 Girls
Ireland 1 Netherlands 12
Ireland 1 Belgium 2
Ireland 0 England 0
**
The Under-16 boys made strong progress over the course of the weekend in their first games at this level for two years. They started off with a tough defeat to Belgium but narrowed the gap significantly after that.
They put in a strong performance against England, only conceding a late goal in 1-0 defeat while they pushed the Netherlands in an exciting contest which ended 2-0.
Under 16 Boys
Ireland 1 Belgium 7
Ireland 0 England 1
Ireland 0 Netherlands 2
****
In what was a first international series for the Irish Under-16 girls, they fought hard through their series in Zwolle. They put in a superb effort against Belgium, conceding twice in the last eight minutes to lose 3-0.
It was the same scoreline against England and they finished off a learning experience against the Netherlands in a 4-0 result, improving game on game
Under-16 Girls
Ireland 0 Belgium 3
Ireland 0 England 3
Ireland 0 Netherlands 4
