Germany 3 Republic of Ireland 1

Ireland's u18s last night kicked off the first of two friendlies against Germany and came out the wrong end of the scoreline, as the hosts outclassed Brian Kerr's depleted side 3-1 in Gutersloh.

All the damage was done in a two-minute period just after half time. Kerr's kids came out cold and the Germans took advantage.

Andreas Hinkel opened the scoring with a stinging drive and his goal was quickly followed by Florian Heller's opportunism from a free kick.

Ireland did pull one back in the 80th minute through substitute Sean Thornton but they were caught on the break late by Bayern Munich's Marcus Fuelmer as Germany sealed the win.

"We played well enough but it was a good German side," said Brian Kerr. "But to be fair, the lads managed to get on the ball and we certainly deserved to get one goal back, if not two."

Ireland: Brian Murphy (Manchester City); Robbie van Zanten (Celtic), Clifford Byrne (Sunderland), John Lester (Everton), Danny Murphy (QPR); Ian Rossiter (Sunderland), Joe Gamble (Reading), Declan Field (Celtic), Brian Cash (Nottingham Forest); Robert Doyle (Blackburn Rovers), Niall McNamara (Nottingham Forest).
Subs: Sean Thornton (Tranmere Rovers) for Field (half time), Fred Murray (Blackburn Rovers) for Lester (60 mins.), Robbie Martin (UCD) for McNamara (67 mins.), John Byrne (VFL Kirchhein) for Rossiter (80 mins.).