Ireland Men’s Under-15s kicked-off the defence of their Torneo Delle Nazioni title with a 4-0 win against the UAE.

Having won the prestigious tournament last year with a 2-1 win over hosts Italy in the final, the young Boys in Green travelled to  Udine in Northern Italy looking to win retain the trophy.

But Jason Donohue’s men showed no signs of pressure as they put in an outstanding display to get the dream start to what will be a busy week.

With just a couple of minutes played, man-of-the-match TJ Molloy, had an early sighter from the edge of the area as he made his side's intentions clear.

And with less than a quarter of an hour played it was the aforementioned Molloy who struck sweetly to put his side ahead.

Following a mix-up in the UAE backline, that saw the keeper pick up a stray back pass, Ireland youngsters fashioned an in-direct free kick, shifting the ball back to allow the Dundalk starlet a yard of space to smash home the opener.

Just before the half hour mark Ireland then doubled their lead when Molloy got on the edge of a wonderful David Dunne cross to finish expertly.

Not content with the two-goal cushion, the rampant Boys in Green made it three two minutes later when the impressive Cork City man Dunne produced a poacher's finish at the back post.

The second half continued in the same vein as Ireland pressed hard to add to their tally. Firstly, Richard Ferizaj went on a lovely dribble but unfortunately saw his strike find the side netting on this occasion. 

And minutes later Tadhg Prizeman saw his powerful header brilliantly tipped onto the bar.

The impressive Shamrock Rovers man Ferizaj didn’t have to wait long to get his name on the scoresheet though, adding a fourth to put the icing on the cake.

With today’s big win secured, Ireland will now aim to get another positive result against North Macedonia on Saturday at Torviscosa - KO 5pm Irish time - to further determine their pathway in the competition with eyes on a semi-final place.

Ireland: George Moloney, Tadhg Prizeman (Alan Sattell, 50’), Ben Dumigan, Sean Speight, Jason Spelman (Joel McPhail, 63’), Victor Ozhianvuna (Samuel Ogungbe, 59’), Richard Ferizaj (Joe Byrne, 50’), David Dunne, Kian Quigley (Brody Collins, 63’), TJ Molloy (Desmond Armstrong, 60’), Danny Burke (Ikechimka Manjor, 50’)

United Arab Emirates: Musallam, Mohamed Tuaib Khalaf, Abdulla Khamis Masoud Alsheedi, Sultan Qasem Mohammed Almoosa, Hussain Yousuf Anwar Yousuf Mirza Ali, Sultan Nasir Bakhit Nasir Almheiri, Abdulla Awadh Saeed Alameri, Mansoor Arif Khamis Al Falasi, Faris Ali Abdulla Mohammed Ali, Saeed Ali Salim Matar Alrashdi, Eisa Ahmed Eisa Ahmed Alblooshi, Mohammad Hassan Shadok Blari

Torneo Delle Nazioni Fixtures (All times are Irish time)

Saturday, April 27 | Ireland MU15 v North Macedonia MU15
Monday, April 29 |  Ireland v TBC, KO & Venue TBC 
Wednesday, May 1 |  Ireland v TBC, KO & Venue TBC

Report by Darryl Geraghty