Republic of Ireland 3 Bulgaria 2

The Republic of Ireland u18 team looked destined for their second defeat of the European Championship qualifier mini-tournament in the Czech Republic yesterday.

They trailed 2-1 to Bulgaria with four minutes left on the clock but a late surge from the Irish saw them score two more goals to take the game 3-2.

Even though they won two of their three games in the tournament the Irish fail to progress because hosts Czech Republic won all three, finishing with an overwhelming 5-0 win against Moldova yesterday.

Ireland started the better against the Bulgarians - who were out to spoil proceedings - but fell behind to a surprise goal against the run of play in the 20th minute when Mladenov picked out Androiov with a chip over the Irish defence and the striker made no mistake from close in, giving Irish goalkeeper Wayne Henderson no chance.

Nottingham Forest's Brian Cash brought the Irish back into the game three minutes before the break when he got onto the end of a four-man move to volley in off the crossbar.

Both countries had a man sent off in the second period. Half-time substitute David Van Zanten was harshly sent off for a tame tackle on Anton Kostadinov and four minutes later things were evened up again by referee Paniashvilli when he showed Mladenov a red for retaliating after a Brian Cash challenge.

Bulgaria seemed to have stolen the points when Valkanov broke free in the 81st minute to give them a 2-1 lead - but Cash struck again four minutes from time and Ger Robinson gave the Irish the lead for the first time in the game in the 89th minute to seal the victory.

Republic of Ireland: Wayne Henderson (Aston Villa); Stephen Brennan (Newcastle United), Clifford Byrne (Sunderland), Paul Tierney (Manchester United), Fred Murray (Blackburn Rovers); Sean Thornton (Tranmere Rovers), Joe Gamble (Reading), Declan Field (Celtic); Brian Cash (Nottingham Forest), Robert Doyle (Blackburn Rovers), Andy Reid (Nottingham Forest).
Subs: David van Zanten (Celtic) for Field 46, Niall McNamara (Nottingham Forest) for Doyle 70, Ger Robinson (Middlesbrough) for Reid 81.
Goals: Cash 42, 86; Robinson 89
Sent off: Van Zanten 61

Bulgaria: Vihren Uzunov; Ivan Klenovski, Blagoy Andonov, Antanas Dimitrov, Kiril Kotev; Martin Kertschev, Ianko Valkanov, Alexander Mladenov, Anton Kostadinov, Georgi Androiov, Ventzislav Ivanov.
Subs: Jeko Yordanov for Kertschev 46, Alexandar Metodiev for Klenovski 46.
Goals: Androiov 20, Valkanov 81
Sent off: Mladenov 65

Referee: L. Paniashvilli (Georgia).