Karamoko Dembele earns second cap for Scotland Under 16s in Victory Shield

Scotland’s hopes of securing only their third outright Victory Shield triumph this century were blown away by rampant Ireland in a second-half goal blitz.

On the day when the country’s new Oriam performance centre was opened amid much hoopla and hype, the young Scots found themselves overrun in the venue’s hugely impressive indoor arena.

Three goals in nine minutes – Adam Idah opening the scoring before Callum Thompson bagged a double – were more than enough for the Republic to walk off with the trophy after a third consecutive win.

Scotland, who kept 13-year-old Celtic wonderkid Karamoko Dembele on the bench until they were three down, simply ran out of steam after beating Northern Ireland and drawing with Wales earlier in the week.

Needing to win this one in order to lift the Victory Shield for the second time in four seasons, Scotland very nearly took the lead inside the opening minute.

Billy Gilmour, the Rangers No. 10 being scouted by everybody from Arsenal and Manchester United to Bayern Munich and Barcelona, was the architect with a through ball of real vision, Motherwell’s Jamie Semple just unable to get on the end of it.

With Harry Cochrane super at breaking up opposition play in midfield, Scotland barely give the Republic an inch of room in the first half, forever snuffing out any threat before it could even develop.

Semple headed over the bar with 18 minutes gone, doing well to get on the end of a Marc Leonard ball after some very clever build-up involving Chris Hamilton.

Although Ireland’s Sean Brennan forced Scotland goalie Archie Mair into a fine save, clawing the ball away from his top corner, the home side remained the more dangerous.

All that changed after the break, starting with Arsenal centre-half Mark McGuinness volleying wide from a corner. Ireland suddenly had their heads up – and Mair had to make a brilliant one-on-one save from Tyreik Wright.

The Irish opened the scoring with 53 minutes gone as a ball down the right opened up an opportunity for Idah to stretch his legs, the centre-forward making both Taylor Wilson and Luis Binks look daft before rounding the keeper and finishing into an empty net.

A brilliant second came two minutes later as right winger Thompson beat two men and scored from an improbable – but clearly not impossible – angle. And the third came soon after, Ireland countering from a Scottish corner and Thompson again hitting the target.

Dembele came on soon after the third and cut a dejected, isolated, disheartened figure as he barely got a touch of the ball. It was that kind of day for Scotland.