Ireland 2 Argentina 2

An inexperienced Irish team gave Dave Passmore a decent send-off as they put in a spirited performance to claim a draw against Argentina today at Serpentine Avenue.

Passmore’s reign as Irish coach officially ended today and he can be proud of the way the young squad fought back from 2-1 down to level late on through John Jermyn.

The game appeared to be following a similar pattern to Wednesday night as Ireland produced an excellent move to break the deadlock. Eugene Magee received a long pass on the 25 and turned nicely to feed a flying Ronan Gormley. Gormley measured his pass from the backline to perfection to the diving Alan Sothern to slam home from five yards.

The Irish conceded a lot of ground thereafter; giving up a three corners while David Harte needed to be alert to smother Lucas Vila’s reverse after a long-corner went straight through the defence.

Vila and his brother Matias then combined well with the last action of the half but Johnny Jackson did brilliantly to clear. Two Diego Tanuscio goals, though, in the seventh minute of the second half turned the score on its head – the first from a rebound off Harte, the second knocked in from Juan Lopez’ pull-back.

The game raised in temperature somewhat as Ibarra and Gormley faced off before Jermyn dragged Ireland level with seven minutes to go.

In a lively finish, Matias Paredes missed a decent chance, Harte saved well from a corner before an end-to-end last 60 seconds saw Peter Caruth gallop down the left wing only to be foiled by Juan Vivaldi. The subsequent break saw Conor Harte on hand to make a great cover tackle.