Republic of Ireland Under 16s retain the Victory Shield

The Republic of Ireland Under 16s have secured the Victory Shield for the second year in a row after dismissing of Scotland by two goals to nil in Bangor.

Led by League of Ireland legend Paul Osam, the Boys in Green knew that a win over Scotland would secure this prestigious crown for the second year in a row.

Matt Everitt and Armstrong Oko-Flex came up with the goals in the 39^th and 65^th minutes respectively as Ireland took the spoils in the home ground of Bangor and Ards in the NIFL Premiership.

Speaking after the win, Osam was proud of his player's achievements, stressing the importance of keeping clean sheets within the three-game tournament.

"We had some targets to hit before the tournament. One of those goals was to have three clean sheets. Keeping clean sheets always gives you a chance and we kept two in three games, which was the bedrock for us winning the tournament.”

Osam also noted that he was delighted on how his charges followed the game plan for the win over the Tartan Army on Friday afternoon.

"We had a game plan today. Scotland are a very good side and we had to be solid defensively. The players sticked to the plan brilliantly. The whole game plan came together really well.”

Finally, he also said that he is certain that there is a lot more good times awaiting his young guns, saying that the future looks bright for this group of underage stars.

"I think there is still huge improvement in this group. We built on a little bit of structure and the results are there to be seen. The future is quite good for this team."

Republic of Ireland team vs Scotland 27/10/17: Jimmy Corcoran; Alex Dunne, Conor Power, Cian Kelly, James Furlong; Brandon Holt, Matt Healy (Ronan McKinley 74); Sean Kennedy (Festy Ebosele 41), Troy Parrott, Armstrong Oko-Flex; Matt Everitt.