Purdy and Sadlier shine

Danny Purdy was on target for Republic of Ireland Under-17s on Tuesday night as they won 2-0 against Hungary at Dublin's Tolka Park while compatriot Kieran Sadlier has also been busy.

Purdy, pictured with club colleague George Moncur, was involved in the first of a double-header of friendly fixtures against the Hungarians this week. The Academy forward kept his nerve to make the game safe after Frankie Sutherland had opened the scoring. Purdy, playing on the right wing, actually missed a penalty on 23 minutes with the score at 0-0 before the Irish took full control.

He finally found the target on 66 minutes, as he played a one-two before cutting into the box to score. It was to be his last contribution before making way for Watford's Conor Smith two minutes later.

Meanwhile, another Irish youngster on West Ham's books has returned to the club fold after again representing his country at Under-16 level. Hammers U15 attacker Sadlier appeared for his country in a four-nation tournament being played in Portugal.

He played almost the entire match - a 1-0 defeat by the host nation - after being an unused substitute for the opening match against Italy. Sadlier missed out on a second appearance against the Netherlands in order to join a Hammers contingent heading to Bermuda for an international youth tournament being organised by club great Clyde Best. whufc.com will have a full preview on Wednesday morning.