Republic of Ireland Under-17s exited the European Championship in controversial fashion in Chesterfield when goalkeeper Jimmy Corcoran was sent off during the penalty shoot-out against Holland.
Corcoran saved Holland’s fifth spot-kick from Daishawn Redan to seemingly keep his side’s hopes alive – only to be issued his second yellow card from referee Zbynek Proske for coming off his line.
Ireland have been eliminated in bizarre, controversial fashion at the U17 Euros after goalkeeper Jimmy Corcoran was shown a second yellow card for moving off his line too early during the penalty shootout https://t.co/O48xsGehPh pic.twitter.com/yroYmS84ca
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) May 14, 2018
The remarkable exchange saw a distraught Corcoran forced to hand his goalkeeper’s shirt to defender Oisin McEntee.
Redan made no mistake with his second attempt, this time against McEntee, to send the Dutch through to the semi-finals after a game which had ended 1-1.
As the Dutch wheeled away in triumph after a 5-4 victory, Irish officials remonstrated with the referee and senior team boss Martin O’Neill marched onto the pitch to take issue with the decision.
The referee’s decision was also met with outrage by many Irish fans online, with some claiming the Dutch goalkeeper was also guilty of coming off his line early.
great legitimate save jimmy corcoran!!! well done boy ….keep the head up, anyone who sees that footage will see the ref mad a hash of that!
— waterfordblues (@waterfordblues) May 14, 2018
The Republic had forced their way back into the match after the Dutch capped a spell of dominance by grabbing the lead in the 62nd minute with a powerful header by Liam van Gelderen.
But the Irish were level almost immediately when a clever one-two between Troy Parrott and Jason Knight in the box resulted in the former sweeping home a superb shot.
