Republic of Ireland 0-0 Sweden
The Republic of Ireland Under-17 team got the point they needed today against Sweden to confirm their position as group winners of UEFA Championship first phase group six.
Wins over Bulgaria and Latvia in their first two matches of the group guaranteed that Ireland advanced into the next phase, the Elite section, as one of the top two teams in the four-nation group.
Sweden, however, could have overtaken Ireland at the summit had they beaten Sean McCaffrey's side today in the concluding group game but they were denied in achieving their mission.
A quickly taken corner after only three minutes resulted in Ireland's first chance. Anton Rodgers, Ben Glasgow and Aiden O'Brien were involved and the shot by Chelsea youngster Rodgers forced a good save from Blazevic.
Rodgers was again to the fore three minutes later in supplying the ammunition for O'Brien to blast but he was foiled by another top-class stop.
Sweden showed signs of threatening through Karl Holmberg and Lucas Ohlander only for each of them to miss the target with their respective first-half efforts but Ireland went in at the break satisfied with their work.
Half-time substitute, Brian McGorary, worked an opening four minutes after the turnaround for Ireland but didn't test the goalkeeper before Shane Byrne whistled a shot wide three minutes later.
The best opportunity of the game fell to Aiden O'Brien with a minute remaining but their would be no repeat of his heroics from Tuesday when he netted a last-gasp winner against Latvia.
Put straight through on goal, O'Brien looked rounded the ‘keeper only for the Swedish netminder to recover and get a slight touch on his goalbound shot to deflect wide.
The final standings in the table reads - Ireland: 7 points, Sweden: 5 points, Bulgaria: 4 points, Latvia 0 points.
IRELAND: Bonham (Watford); Glasgow (Arsenal), Bryan (Aston Villa), McGinty (Manchester United), Neil Yadolahi (St. Kevin's Boys); Rodgers (Chelsea), Byrne (Leicester City), McHugh (Reading), Sutherland (QPR); O'Brien (Millwall), Purdy (West Ham United).
Substitutes: Knight (Leicester City) for Sutherland (34 mins), McGroary (Wolves) for Glasgow (h/t), Smith (Southend United) for Purdy (66 mins)
Results:
Under-17 UEFA Championship first phase qualifiers (hosted by Bulgaria):
Sunday, September 27
Republic of Ireland 2-1 Bulgaria
Sweden 2-0 Latvia
Tuesday, September 29
Republic of Ireland 1-0 Latvia
Sweden 0-0 Bulgaria
Friday, October 2
Republic of Ireland 0-0 Sweden
Bulgaria 4-0 Latvia. |
