Ireland Men’s Under-18s fell to a 2-0 defeat at the Sports Centre Zelena Laguna, Poreč against a talented Japanese side.

In the first of three preparation games ahead of next Autumn’s 2025/26 UEFA Under-19 Qualifiers, Colin O’Brien’s charges found themselves behind to their Japanese counterparts after just 10-minutes, despite a bright opening.

The talented Irish side began to show their quality in search of an equaliser immediately after the early set back but were hit on the counter as Shion Nakayama doubled his side's lead.

With the opposition now in full flow, Ireland showed great determination to frustrate Kazunori Jo’s side and finished the half the stronger.

UCD’s Adam Brennan was desperately unlucky not to pull one back before the break following an excellent run, but saw his shot well held by Jeffrey Maruyama.

Ireland dominated possession again after half-time but failed to find the killer ball in the final third as Japan showed great organisation to smother the Irish in the final third.

The goal their tremendous effort deserved just didn’t materialise as Shelbourne hot-shot Daniel Ring, who made his first team debut recently, showed great movement to find space but was brilliantly denied by Maruyama from close range.

Japan did very well to hold on for the 2-0 win and preserve their cleansheet despite late pressure and although it wasn’t the dream start Colin O’Brien’s group would have envisaged it would no doubt serve as a valuable learning opportunity and will no doubt be proud of his sides efforts and determination to go right until the final whistle. 

Next up for the young Boys in Green is an exciting looking clash with hosts Croatia on Saturday (13.30 Irish time) before rounding off the week against Portugal on Tuesday (11.00 Irish time)

Ireland: Cian O’Shea, Harry McGlinchey, James Roche, Sean Moore (Raymond Offor, 46’), Adam Brennan (Joe Sheridan, 64’), Luke O’Donnell, Kyle Fitzgerald (Matthew Murray, 64’) Taylor McCarthy, Luca Cailloce (Ajibola Oluwabiyi, 46’), Kaylem Harnett, Dan Ring

Japan: Jeffrey Maruyama, Shunya Sakai (Soichiro Mori, 72’), Shoei Sasaki (Jui Hata, 57’), Naoya Wada (Kaito Konomi, 72’), Kento Hamasaki (Kanaru Matsumoto, 57’), Haruto Tatsukawa, Shion Nakayama, Yusei Shima (Souta Tsukuda, 72’), Ryo Senda, Souyusubedi Takenoya (Kento Imai, 72’), Kio Tanaka (Mirei Sugiura, 57’)

International Friendly Fixtures/Result (All kick-off times are Irish time)

Wednesday, November 13 | Ireland 0-2 Japan
Saturday, November 16 | Croatia v Ireland, Sports Centre Zelena Laguna, Poreč, KO 13:30
Tuesday, November 19 | Portugal v Ireland, Sports Centre Zelena Laguna, Poreč, KO 11:00

By Darryl Geraghty