Unreal fair play to the North for the last min goal and us for keeping going. Lithuania must have felt safe as houses
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A 94th minute goal for Ireland and 90th minute consolation for the North. Pretty incredible ending. Not marked as qualified yet on the UEFA site and Lithuania marked equal second. https://www.uefa.com/under17/standings/2025/2001869/
Certainly makes up for some of the bad luck our 21s had this season.
It's an limportant age group that at least now will be together as a group until March and have a chance to develop. Do we know what martos connection to us is , is it his mum?
They would have been together in March anyway. The teams that finished third and fourth in each group go into League B, to try and qualify for Group A in the U19 qualifiers next year. Since we finished second, we'll go straight into Group A next year.
According to this - https://futureofirishfootball.substa...h-202425-mu17s - Martos qualifies for us through his mother
Quote:
Another two players based abroad are Ramon Martos (UD Almeria)and Grady McDonnell (Vancouver FC). Ramon Martos signed his first professional contract with UD Almería in July 2024. He’s made a strong impression with the Irish youth teams, qualifying to represent Ireland through his Irish mother.
The draw for the second round was made yesterday, with Ireland facing Belgium, Poland, and Iceland in March.
https://www.uefa.com/under17/news/02...d-2-draw-made/
Something I didn't know was that the second round also functions as the qualifiers for the U17 World Cup next year.
The tournament has been expanded to 48 teams, and will now run annually. All teams that finish first, and the four best teams that finish second, in the second round of the U17 qualifiers will go through to the World Cup. So, even if you don't qualify for the Euros, you could still go to the World Cup, which seems odd to me.
Also, the tournament will be held in Qatar. As will the following four U17 World Cups. Isn't that just super?
https://www.fai.ie/latest/mens-under...ro-qualifiers/
Great selection of clubs there really. Good to see. What’s the story with Ramon Martos? Don’t think I’ve heard him mentioned before…Quote:
Ireland Men’s Under-17 Squad
Goalkeepers: George Moloney (Southampton), Alex Noonan (Shamrock Rovers).
Defenders: Billy Canny (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Vincent Leonard (Dundalk), Oisin McDonagh (Venezia), Finn Sherlock (Hoffenheim), Ade Solanke (FC Lorient).
Midfielders: Rory Finneran (Newcastle United), Billy Hayes (St Patrick’s Athletic), Ramon Martos (UD Almeria), Gavin McAteer (Finn Harps), Kian McMahon Brown (Burnley), Grady McDonnell (Club Brugge), Oskar Skoubo Keely (Bohemians).
Forwards: Charles Akinrintayo (Shamrock Rovers), Brody Lee (Shamrock Rovers), Billy O’Neill (Bray Wanderers), Victor Ozhianvuna (Shamrock Rovers), Cillian Tollett (Galway United), Jaden Umeh (Benfica).
He's been around a couple of years now. Has 26 caps at underage level between 15s, 16s, and 17s so far with us.
Lineup available from uefa.com: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2...ic-of-ireland/
Kick off at one.
That can't be the formation, can it?
Brody Lee sounds like he should be lining up at Wrestlemania as part of the Judgement Day faction rather than our 17s.
1-0 loss.very very difficult to qualify now with the new format where only one team gets through. Hard to comment without seeing the game…
Small margins at that level.
In terms of the squad, was very disappointed for Ali Topcu not to make it if fit, he’s an excellent keeper, wonderful reactions, really really excellent with his feet - I think his international prospects will largely depend on his height. If he ends up 6’1, he probably becomes an international keeper and if he ends up 5’8 then maybe he’s unlikely to have a career in the game at all. Seems the goal might have come from Alex Noonan (the keeper) giving away a penalty.
Goes back to the whole Melia 21s saga, not to sound like a broken record but starting Noonan ahead of Akinrintoyo might have been enough to get you the points. How can we have a chance to win at 17s and 19s level where you need to win the group against excellent teams like Germany and Belgium with far more resources and players than us when we can’t select our best players at the relevant age groups…
Assume it was actually 4-3-3 with Canny-McDonagh-Leonard-Sherlock as the back 4 and a midfield 3 of Grady, Ramon and Rory with Umeh and Hayes on the wings.
Have to assume that Goodness Ogbonna and Mo Oladiti are both injured as they’d be nailed on.
Beyond that I’d question why Solanke didn’t start at the back and why one of Brody Lee or Victor Ohianvuna didn’t start ahead of Billy Hayes
Winning today with Belgium drawing so it's still possible if Poland do us a favour. Need to beat Iceland though to be in with a chance.
Belgium won 2-1.
That puts us out of the tournament this summer, even if we win our last game against Iceland and Belgium lose to Poland, they'll be ahead of us on head to head
However, a win would put us in contention to qualify for the U17 World Cup as one of the best runners up
The FAI have reported a racist incident at the game yesterday
https://www.fai.ie/latest/fai-statem...ens-under-17s/
team have to win to have a chance of playing in the U17 World Cup later this year, currently leading Iceland 2-0 at half time
https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2...nd-vs-iceland/
the other group games are kicking off later today, with the last games kicking off at seven, so we won't know until tonight if we've qualified or not
Big opportunity for them here. Even if they win they'll have to wait until later tonight to know for sure whether they've qualified or not, but a lot would have to go against them in other games for them to win here and not qualify for the World Cup.
Given that they only just squeezed into this qualification round it would be a great outcome to end up qualifying for a global tournament.
Interesting that UEFA have reduced the Under 17 Euros to 8 teams at around the same time as FIFA have expanded the World Cup meaning it's now easier to qualify for the World Cup than the Euros.
Incidentally, the format FIFA have come up with for their 48 team finals tournament is a bit mental, not to mention giving it to Qatar to host for five years in a row. Wonder if the format is a trial run for a future senior World Cup if the 2026 tournament in North America is considered too long-winded.
Poland leading Belgium 1-0 at half time in the other game in the group.