SPAIGHT FEATURES IN IRELAND UNDER-17 WIN

Dundalk FC defender Seán Spaight played the full match as Ireland came from two goals down to beat Hungary 4-3 in a thrilling Under-17 friendly in Spain on Saturday.

Sixteen-year-olds Spaight and Lilywhites teammate Vinnie Leonard were both called up to Colin O’Brien’s squad for the trip.

Leonard played 80 minutes in Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat by Finland – where Spaight played 45 – before returning home to play for Dundalk’s first team against Athlone Town on Friday night, scoring the winner in their First Division opener at Oriel Park.

Spaight remained in Spain and was part of the starting XI for Saturday morning’s kick-off, going on to play the full match as Galway United’s Cillian Tollett netted the winner three minutes from time in an enthralling seven-goal thriller in Oliva Nova.

Ireland had found themselves two goals down inside ten minutes. It would take a goal from Shamrock Rovers’ Brody Lee to half the deficit before Malmö FF’s Aidan Gabbidon equalised for O’Brien’s side just after the half-hour mark.

Six minutes into the second half, Charles Akinrintayo gave Ireland a 3-2 lead. Not be perturbed, Hungary hit back 13 minutes later to make it 3-3.

But the match-winning goal from Tollett, who had been introduced into the game as a substitute, would come in the 87th minute to give the Under-17s great confidence going into next month’s UEFA European Championship Qualifiers in Poland.

IRELAND U17S: Moloney (Brunto HT), Gabbidon, Spaight, Canny (Idah HT), Ogbonna (Sullivan HT), Finneran, McAteer (Martos 47), Skubo Keely (Hayes 57), Lee (McMahon Brown 57), O’Neill (Dunne 71), Akinrintayo (Tollett 71).

HUNGARY U17S: Balogh, Gulyas, Lakatos, Dealaportas, Milicz, Reb, Petrok, Varga, Zubor, Galambos, Toth. Substitutes: Esery, Ranko, Lakatos, Baranyi, Csoka, Webel, Soptei, Kovacs, Magyarics, Golik.

Report details and photo from FAI.ie.