Republic of Ireland 1-2 Turkey

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Caner Erkin watches Aiden McGeady in actionImage source, Inpho
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Caner Erkin watches Aiden McGeady in action

Turkey recorded their first ever win over the Republic of Ireland on Irish soil in this Aviva Stadium friendly.

Ahmet Ilhan Ozek netted the opener in the 17th minute when he headed home powerfully from a Gokhan Gonul cross.

Tarik Camdal added the second with a neat left-foot finish on 75 minutes, both players scoring their first international goals for their country.

Jonathan Walters blasted in a left-foot drive two minutes later but the Irish could not find an equaliser.

Martin O'Neill's side began the game brightly and Shane Long looked to be brought down in the area by Omer Toprak, but referee Ruddy Buquet waved away penalty appeals.

Stephen Ward fired a 20-yard left-foot shot from the edge of the box just wide and then Long went close.

The Hull City striker's close-range shot was superbly palmed away by Turkish goalkeeper Onur Kivrak and when the ball came back into the area John O'Shea deflected it towards goal, but saw his effort cleared off the line.

A minute later Turkey opened the scoring against the run of play when Gokhan Gonul's inviting cross from the right was met by a strong glancing header from Ahmet Ilhan Ozek, the ball flying low into the bottom corner of the net.

In the 36th minute Onur made another fine save to deny James McClean's left-foot drive from five yards out.

Soon after Mevlut Erdinc had the ball in the back of the net, but he was flagged up for offside.

He picked up the ball on the edge of the area and curled in a wonderful strike leaving Rob Elliot helpless, but the referee's whistle blew soon after.

The early part of the second half rarely rose above the mediocre - good play from Ilhan saw him tap the ball off to an onrushing Erdinc, but Damien Delaney was there to superbly block a powerful attempt on goal.

Tarik Camdal made it 2-0 with a simple, well executed finish after accepting a well disguised pass from Oguzhan Ozyakup.

Two minutes later Walters got on the end of a long ball, turned inside Toprak and delivered a right-foot shot past the helpless Onur for the fifth goal of his international career.

The Republic's best chance of an equaliser fell to Daryl Murphy, but the Ipswich Town man headed straight at the goalkeeper after meeting McClean's delivery.

The Irish face Italy in their next friendly game in London on Saturday, 31 May as they continue their build-up to the start of the Euro 2016 qualifiers in September.

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