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Great stuff once again, flynny, two goals in his last two games, what dry spell????. great to see him do it at international level on a consistent basis.
from www.fai.ie
Elliott hat-trick inspires five-star Ireland
Manchester City striker Stephen Elliott scored a hat-trick as the Republic of Ireland Under 21 side cruised to a 5-1 victory over Poland in Gdansk on Tuesday evening.
In was the biggest victory of manager Don Givens' reign, Elliott - starting for the Under 21s for the first time - was the hero scoring three and creating one as Ireland ran riot with Shelbourne winger Wes Hoolahan and Cork City striker John O'Flynn were also on the score sheet.
It was a hugely impressive performance by Ireland with Hoolahan, back on the left wing after being left out in favour of Andy Reid during the summer, having an inspirational game as he created two of Elliott's goals as well as several other chances while there was plenty of other impressive performances as Ireland warmed up for September's European U21 Championship clash with Poland in style.
Givens was delighted with the performance and the result. "I would have to say that given the circumstances it was probably the best performance under me. The younger players coming in were terrific and apart from their goal when we were a bit sloppy, you would have to be very critical to find anything wrong with our play," he said.
Elliott opened the scoring in the third minute when he fired home a rebound after his initial effort had been saved. But on the quarter hour, Poland were given a life line when a mistake in defence let in Preston North End striker Pavel Addott who fired past the otherwise impressive Dan Connor from the edge of the area.
But Ireland were back in front in the 27th minute when Elliott turned provider when he played in the unmarked Hoolahan who rifled the ball home.
Connor made several saves as Poland looked to come back into the game, but Ireland were also looking threatening with Elliott and O'Flynn always looking likely to grab a third for Ireland. And it was the Cork City striker who eventually found a way through in the 74th minute when he hammered the ball home after substitute Brian Cash's right wing cross had found him unmarked in the area.
With the win almost secured, Ireland continued to push on and Elliott grabbed a fourth Irish goal in the 81st minute when a he raced onto a Hoolahan throughball before slotting the ball home.
And three minutes from time, Elliott completed his hat-trick when once again Hoolahan created the opening with a wonderful defence splitting pass with Elliott hammering the ball home.
Team: Connor; Kelly, Byrne, Cryan, Kohlmann; Gilroy, O'Connor, Keegan, Hoolahan; O'Flynn, Elliott.
Subs: Cash for Gilroy (67 mins), Zayed for O'Flynn, Capper for Kohlmann (both 76 mins), Ward for O'Connor (80 mins).
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