A goal midway through the second half from substitute Alan O’Sullivan was enough to see Ireland through the physical test that came from the battle with the Far East side. It was the DCU’s 5th goal of the tournament and sees him finish as second joint top scorer overall.
Ireland made multiple changes for the game with Sean McLoughlin and Ross Taheny the only players to start every game in Taipei with Yelverton also changing his system to 3-5-2.
Ireland’s best chance in the opening period came from a Sean McLoughlin cross that found Joe Doyle but the Dublin IT striker could not direct his attempt within the boundaries of the goal.
After Muhammad Tumin struck the crossbar with a shot, Yelverton decided to act and introduced Alan O’Sullivan from the bench. The move payed dividends immediately when the striker fired home the opening goal within four minutes.
The hard-working Conor Barry almost doubled the advantage a couple of minutes later when his tenacity caused possession to be overturned and he shot from 30 yards only to see his effort come crashing back off the crossbar.
Any hopes of a Malaysia comeback were dramatically reduced when Muhammad Jamaluddin was sent off for a reckless challenge on Joe Doyle from behind. With the man advantage, Ireland were able to withstand any Malaysian pressure until the final whistle of the tournament. Ireland will return to Dublin Airport on Thursday afternoon.
Ireland – Kearns, Nugent, Taheny (Sloggett 78’), McLoughlin, McAuliffe, Kinneen, McKeown (O’Connor 63’), Barry, Hollywood, Doyle (Daly-Butz 88’), Lyons (O’Sullivan 60’)
Subs Unused: Molloy (GK), Brookes, Dunne, McClelland, Dempsey.
Malaysia – Khamis, Jamaluddin, Amiruddin, Wan Mohamed (Ibrahim 13’), Modh Bandong, Ahmad, Zulkiflee, Mhd Huzaizi (Mat Yaacob 69’), M Rosli (Tumin HT), Abdul Ghani, Berhan (Zanil HT).
Subs Unused – Samsudin (GK), Z Rosli, Gan.
via GET Sportonline
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