UCD 1-2 Liverpool U21s: Goals from Brannagan and Yesil end young Reds' Ireland tour with win

Liverpool under-21s concluded their pre-season tour of Ireland with a relatively comfortable 2-1 win over UCD in Dublin.

Cameron Brannagan gave the Reds the lead on the half-hour mark, poking in from close-range - before Samed Yesil doubled the advantage minutes after the break.

Samir Belhout's 88th minute goal gave the hosts late hope of rescuing a draw, but Liverpool held in to end their tour with two wins from tour.

UCD prove tougher test in early stages

Having beaten Waterford United in a resounding 6-0 win on Friday evening, U21s boss Michael Beale named just four changes to his starting side - with Conor Randall, Will Marsh, Sergi Canos and Cameron Brannagan replacing Matty Virtue, Alex O'Hanlon, Ovie Ejaria and Adam Phillips.

But the changes, and the continued absence of a number of Beale's regulars, who are out in Australia with the first-team, had little effect on their performance.

UCD, who take on Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League on Thursday needing a victory to progress to the next round, were no pushovers. Sat outside the play-offs in Ireland's First Divison - they enjoyed sustained periods of possession but struggled to create any real chances.

On 16 minutes, they almost put themselves ahead through as Ryan Swan was set up by Chris Mulhall, but lost his footing at the crucial moment - allowing Lawrence Vigouroux to gather.

The half-chance pressured the Liverpool side into pushing for an opening goal at Belfield, and Marsh's strike almost found himself through on goal - only for Adam Harney to block his shot.

The young Reds continued to pepper UCD second-choice 'keeper Conor Mackey's goal, but he remained largely untroubled.

Up the other end, however, Eoin Kirwan was presented with a promising opportunity after Swan's pass picked him out in a dangerous area - but Vigouroux was easily able to save.

Visitors take the lead after 31 minutes

With the hosts starting to carve out some decent opportunities, Liverpool U21s began to pile back on the pressure - with Jack Dunn firing into the side-netting from an angle.

But only one minute later, Beale's side finally found the breakthrough as Brannagan stabbed past Mackey after the ball fell fortuitously to him following a clash between Adam Harney and Jerome Sinclair.

From there on in, Liverpool were on top as the hosts made a number of changes with Thursday's fixture in mind. Sinclair was the next to come closest, firing over the crossbar from the edge of College's penalty area.

That said, UCD had a fine opportunity to level the scores in the 40th minute - but substitute Conor Cannon could only fire wide after being pressured into a rushed shot.

Almost immediately up the other end of the pitch, Dunn - who had been one of the stand-out performers for Liverpool, added to a fantastic first-half display against Waterford - saw his shot whistle narrowly wide of the near post.

Yesil doubles the lead before subsitutions slow pace of the game

After a mass of changes for both teams at the break, substitute Samed Yesil proved too much for the UCD defence - burying an effort from a right-sided cross in just the 48th minute.

Only five minutes later, he came close to scoring his fourth in two games - but couldn't keep his shot on target as the young Reds continued to dominate.

The hosts could, and should, have halved the deficit before the hour when Kirwan found the ball at his feet from close-range following Cannon's cut-back, but he couldn't get an effort away from eight-yards out.

With both sides making the most of their rolling subs, the tempo soon cooled - meaning chances came at a premium, with Madger Gomez heading over from O'Hanlon's cross.

UCD net late strike to set up exciting finish

Then suddenly, the game burst back into life - with Yesil having a shot blocked, before Gomez fired over the bar.

UCD weren't quite dead and buried yet though, with 10 minutes remaining - as Cannon tested the palms of Liverpool goalkeeper Andrew Firth.

Despite Marsh forcing substitute UCD goalkeeper Karl Skinner into a strong save, Samir Belhout proved a lively introduction.

Taking the armband after coming on, he forced Firth into parrying a well-hit shot wide in a one-on-one. But only five minutes later, with just two minutes remaining of normal time, he pulled one back for the hosts - heading in from a corner-kick to set up an intriguing finale.

But the late goal proved only to be a consolation, after Gary O'Neill spurned the final chance of the game - firing straight at Firth as the Reds came out on top.