Josh Cullen and Gavin McAteer pick up another cap in Ireland U17s defeat

Josh Cullen and Gavin McAteer won another underage cap for the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday in a 2-1 defeat to hosts Czechia in the Jezek Cup.

Donegal Town native Cullen played the full 90 minutes in defence, while his Finn Harps teammate and Milford man McAteer played the first half before being replaced by Ramon Martos as manager Colin O’Brien made a host of changes.

Ballyshannon’s Corey Sheridan was an unused sub and is still looking for his first Republic of Ireland cap after switching over from Northern Ireland.

Ireland had led at half-time through a Jaden Umeh penalty, but Nicolas Stehik levelled the game straight after the restart.

And it was controversial circumstances in added time that saw the hosts take the win.

The referee awarded a corner after the Irish goalkeeper was adjudged to have held the ball longer than eight seconds. As per the new rules, a corner was awarded and Jonas Topic got on the end of the corner to convert the ball in the net.

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It was the first of three friendly matches for Ireland, with their second match against Switzerland on Friday at 4pm before their final game against Türkiye on Sunday at 10am.

It’s a chance to impress for the Donegal and Harps trio, as they look to nail down a place in the squad and starting 11 ahead of the Under-17 World Cup, which takes place in Qatar this November.