**** sake, Cyprus break after we butcher a great chance. Shocking shocking defending
And we concede a second from our complete inability to defend…like Belarus in the qualifying round all over again.
It really is a miracle we’ve probably qualified given how horrendous our defense is.
**** sake, Cyprus break after we butcher a great chance. Shocking shocking defending
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Playing against 10. I’d bring on Okosun and Mooney - hasn’t really happened for Melia (trying to walk it into the net) and Orazi
I could forgive the horrendous defending if we were at least clinical at the other end but sadly that is also very lacking.
Scored a 2nd!
2-2
Hopefully we push on and get a third and please don’t forget about defending!
2-2, lovely goal from Razi. Cyprus down to 10 now, 82 mins gone, can still push on and get the win
Melia has to score that. Have lost a minute and half so far with injury - interesting to see if it’s added on
Ireland Score the 3rd right at the death!!!! And I believe if my math are correct Ireland win the group on goals scored!
And Ireland win the group due to us scoring 9 goals to Italy’s 8 over the 3 games!
What a finish to the game. You'd have wanted them to be more comfortable and the defence looks shaky out but great way to win it and they never gave up
Watched up to the 70min mark then had a meeting. Sullen and depressed assuming we'd blown it.
Delighted and from a few WhatsApp group messages, it seems like they stuck to their guns with the type of football they tried to play.
Delighted for them
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I didn't see the game but delighted for the lads to qualify in that manner.
It's crazy how competitive our under age teams are considering how there's next to no full time under age staff in the LOI academies. The ceiling on our future is so high if our clubs continue to grow into proper professional outfits.
Does anyone know how the pots are made for the final tournament? Does winning the group put us into a higher seed?
Elatedscum and Liamoo would be the oracles on this, but afaik it's either based on the ranking of the teams who qualified with their points total (i.e. we qualifed on 7 points, as did Italy) rather than being guaranteed in the top 8 (although we surely are). Italy is probably a better example actually - they could still be in the top 8 if some of the group winners finish with less than 7 points.
I don't think the U17 ranking has anything to do with it for the finals.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Brilliant stuff. Results really shouldn't matter too much at this age group but more games at an elite level can only help. We're doing some things well somewhere.
I disagree - results at these age groups are absolutely important - but they shouldn't be achieved to the mutual exclusion of player development. Ireland in the past decade and a half have performed super well at 17s and 19s. We've been dismal at 21s and our failure to compete at that age group has absolutely been a factor in the failure to progress positively at senior level.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
The seven best group winners along with Hungary will be in Pot 1. So we'll need one group winner to finish below us to get into pot 1.
Though can still get a nightmare group as it's a slightly open draw in the sense that there's only two pots to draw from rather than four. So the two best teams in the elite phase can be drawn together.
The year we hosted the U17s we drew Belgium from Pot 1 who were ranked fourth in seeding while we as hosts we ranked first.
can we draw Italy, since we faced them in the qualifiers?
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