Greece denied by George's Ireland equaliser

A goal in each half meant the points were shared between the Republic of Ireland and Greece in their UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round Group 3 game.

Buoyed by their opening 2-0 victory against Latvia, mini-tournament hosts Greece went ahead after four minutes through Nikos Gianitsanis. Paul George levelled with 12 minutes remaining to earn a point for his side, who are two points behind both Greece and Denmark. The top two meet on Matchday 3, when Ireland take on Latvia.

Greece got off to a perfect start when Joseph Coll could only parry Kyriakos Andreopoulos's powerful free-kick into the path of Gianitsanis, who converted the rebound. Greece goalkeeper Stefanos Kapino was in fine form, pulling off a magnificent save from Kealan Dillon to keep his side in front.

Theodoros Pachatouridis' side almost doubled their advantage on the half-hour but a combination of Coll and a post prevented Nikolaos Simeonidis's fierce drive from creeping in. In an even second period, Ireland turned up the heat in the closing stages, George equalising with a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area.

"What counts is the team and I am proud of our attitude on the pitch," said George, who also scored a last-gasp equaliser in Ireland's first game against Denmark. "We don't give up and we fight until the end."