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First Team

Man-of-the-match Harry Arter impresses for Ireland in international

Written by Iain Pearce

Harry Arter staked his claim for a starting berth for Ireland's upcoming qualifier with Austria with a strong performance.

The AFC Bournemouth player was awarded the official man-of-the-match award after his hard-running helped beat Uruguay 3-1 in Dublin.

Goals from Jonathan Walters, Cyrus Christie and James McClean won the friendly at the Aviva Stadium, but it was Arter's work in the engine room that won the most plaudits.

Arter played alongside Stoke City's Glenn Whelan before the break, while Burnley's Jeff Hendrick dropped in alongside the Cherries man in a holding role for the second half.

The game was a warm up for Sunday's World Cup qualifier with Austria, where the Republic of Ireland can strengthen their place in the top two of Group D with a home win.

After the game Arter spoke to eirSport about his performance: "Every opportunity that I get to play is for me to try to prove that [I'm good enough]. Experience wise, at this level I'm quite new to it but I was pleased that I could put in a good performance.

"Individually and personally it was massive for me to get a full game in and come away injury free, which I was pleased about.

"It was a great result, we were playing against a great side there with a great history. We come away with some real credit."

Arter is one of a host of Bournemouth players on international duty this week, with further details about the call ups here.