Cunningham gets run against Argentina

Date Published: 12-Aug-2010

Dara Bradley

GALWAY teenager Greg Cunningham was praised by Ireland captain Robbie Keane after he impressed when he was introduced as a substitute to earn his second international cap for his country in the first soccer international to be played at the revamped Aviva stadium at Lansdowne Road on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old former Cregmore and Mervue United player did well when he came on to replace Kevin Kilbane in the 55th minute where he briefly defended against one of the top players in the world, Argentina’s Lionel Messi.

The Manchester City star must have done something right as Messi was substituted two minutes after Cunningham was introduced! Ireland were subdued in the first-half and struggled to get possession but they upped the ante in the last half hour after Cunningham and Andy Keogh were introduced and Keane had a couple of half chances to snatch a draw.

Argentina’s controversial first-half goal from Angel Di Mario, who was played in by an offside Gonzalo Higuain, was the difference between the sides as the visitors held on for a 1-0 win. Cunningham, who earlier this secured a new two-year contract with Manchester City, was brought into the Ireland senior squad for the pre-World Cup friendly game with Brazil and was on the bench for the Paraguay friendly although he didn’t feature.

He has played for his country at every underage level from U15 right up to U19 and was handed his senior debut by Giovanni Trapattoni and played for a full 90 minutes in the 3-0 win over Algeria in a friendly at the RDS in Dublin in June.