Ireland have thumped Serbia 82-0 in the first game of the rugbyleague.com European Championships in Tullamore.
In the first ever meeting between the sides Ireland got off to a flying start when winger John Coleman crossed over inside two minutes to make the perfect start to his debut. Liam Finn dually converted the try to give the Wolfhounds a 6-0 lead.
Serbia came close to bouncing back straight away when Milos Milanko looked certain to score. Only a superb tackle from Carlow Crusader Stevie Gibbons forced a knock-on.
Ireland were dominating their opponents and within the first five minutes Tim Bergin, who was also making his debut, crossed over after a break from Liam Harrison who then supplied the final pass for Bergin.
A third try was added on ten minutes when Luke Ambler burst through the midfield and ran home from forty yards.
Finn then decided he wanted to add to his tally when he touched down and converted his own try to give Ireland a 24-0 lead.
Further tries from Karl Fitzpatrick, Dave Allen, Sean Hesketh and Harrisson gave the hosts a considerable lead at half time with the score at 46-0.
The second half started much in the same vein of the first when Bergin touched down for his second try of the game within a minute of the start.
Serbia then began to come into the tie when they had five minutes inside the Irish twenty-yard line only for the Wolfhounds to weather the storm.
Harrison, who was causing major problems for the Serbian defence, set up Fitzpatrick for his second ten minutes into the half.
Luke Ambler then brought the score over the sixty point mark with his try, before full back Fitzpatrick notched his hat trick.
Ireland didn’t let up and Fitzpatrick added another before Brendan Guilfoyle rounded off the scoring with just two minutes to go to give Ireland an emphatic 82-0 victory.
It could have been more however, when Harrison set up man-of-the-match Gibbons only for the Carlow man to drop the ball with the line at his mercy.
Speaking after the game Ireland head coach Andy Kelly had this to say: ‘In terms of Irish development and development of the domestic game it’s a fantastic result with having the six domestic players out there and seeing them compete and cope with what was going on around them competently bodes well.’
And Kelly expressed the need for consistency ahead of their vital clash with Wales on 1 November: ‘What we need now is consistency. We need a couple of good weeks’ preparation and a little bit of realism not to get carried away with the result. It was a good hit-out but we need to understand Wales are a different proposition’.
The Wolfhounds now look to Wales in two weeks where a win would secure a place in the European finals.
Ireland: Karl Fitzpatrick, John Coleman, Tyrone McCarthy, Liam Harrison, Tim Bergin, Stevie Gibbons, Liam Finn, Ryan Boye, Bob Beswick, Luke Ambler, Sean Hesketh, Dave Allen, Jason Golden Interchange: Wayne Kerr, Paddy Barcoe, Brendan Guilfoyle, James Coyle
Serbia: Ivan Susnjara, Vladan Kikanovic, Milos Milanko, Nonad Grbic, Niksa Unkovic, Dalibor Vukanovic, Nilan Susnjara, Dejan Lukenic, Zorean Pesic, Mario Milosavuvic, Vick Turdisic, Stevan Stevanovic, Soni Radovanic
Interchange: Ivan Djordjevic, Marko Zebeljan, Austen Novakovoc, Aleksander Sic
