The Republic of Ireland Women’s Under 19 side have qualified for the UEFA Championships Elite Qualifying Phase as they thumped Slovakia 5-0 in Nemsova, Slovakia this afternoon.
Goals from Louise Quinn, Stephanie Roche, Christine Byrne and a brace from Noelle Murray gives Susan Ronan’s side six points from two games and are now guaranteed to qualify to the elite qualifying phase as Switzerland recorded a 6-2 victory over Croatia in today’s other game to secure their place in the next round also. Tuesday’s game between the top two teams will decide who finishes top of the group with the possibility of becoming a top-seed for the next round.
The game kicked off with a high tempo as both teams looked to attack from the off, Irish goalkeeper, Lynn Dowling - Bradley was called into action early on as Slovak striker, Skorvankova used her lightening pace to burst free from the Irish defence, her shot across the face of goal was well saved by the Raheny goalkeeper and Grace Murray was on-hand to clear the danger.
The Irish midfield controlled the game for large periods with Gillian McDonnell, Jennifer Critchley, Julieann Russell, pulling the strings, after eleven minutes, Aine O’ Gorman was put through by McDonnell but Korenciova in the Slovakia goal saved well to deny the Stella Maris striker.
The Irish defence of Karen Duggan, Grace Murray, Catriona McGilp and Louise Quinn looked comfortable and calmly dealt with any Slovak attacks, while Lifford’s Lynne Marie Grant looked solid in midfield as she broke down some key Slovakia moves and turned them into Irish counter-attacks.
Aine O’ Gorman and Noelle Murray were causing the Slovak defence a lot of problems and their hard work paid off with the opening goal on 30 minutes, Noelle Murray was given too much space in the box as she elegantly controlled and struck a fierce shot which rebounded off the crossbar, Irish captain, Louise Quinn was first to the ball and powerfully headed the ball past the keeper.
With the game so delicately balanced at 1-0 for the first half, Susan Ronan must be delighted with her sides urgency in the second half, the Irish stepped up a couple of gears and were rewarded after 50 minutes, Jennifer Critchley breezed past the right back and supplied a pin-point cross to McDonnell in the box, the Dundalk midfielder seemed to be fouled in the area but Noelle Murray ran on to the ball and struck it with her left foot to the top left hand corner of the net.
Substitute, Stephanie Roche made an instant impact minutes after her introduction, Aine O’ Gorman drifted in a teasing ball to the box and Roche ran between the defender and keeper as she neatly tucked the ball into the net with the outside of her left foot.
Raheny’s Noelle Murray caused mayhem for the Slovak midfield as she dropped into a midfield role, her dominance shone when she scored her second of the afternoon, a short free-kick just inside the Slovak half was tapped to Murray who dummied a shot to evade a Slovak defender, she picked her spot and curled the ball past the keeper into the left hand corner from 25 yards with her weaker left-foot.
Half-time substitute, Christine Byrne finished the scoring with an excellent individual effort; she mazed through two defenders on the left wing and easily rounded the keeper, she kept a cool head to slot the ball into the empty net from a tight angle.
Irish manager, Susan Ronan was impressed with her sides victory against Slovakia, “I think that it was a massive improvement from our game against Croatia, the tempo of the game was very high from the start and our girls stayed at that level for the full 90 minutes, I knew we had to play at that level to break down a very difficult side, the Slovakia team are an ever-improving nation and we needed to work hard to break them down, saying that, we could well have scored more in the end but I’m very with the result,” said Ronan.
“We have a very important game against Switzerland on Tuesday with the possibility of going into the next round as a seeded team, if we perform against the Swiss like we did today, I would be confident that we will beat them, however, we came to Slovakia to qualify and we did that with a game to spare,” she concluded.
Fixtures and Results
Thursday, September 27th 2007 Republic of Ireland 5-1 Croatia Switzerland 3-0 Slovakia
Saturday, September 29th 2007 Slovakia 0-5 Republic of Ireland Switzerland 6-2 Croatia
Tuesday, October 2nd 2007 Republic of Ireland v Switzerland Nove Mesto nad Vahom) Kick-off: 11am (local time)
Croatia v Slovakia
Republic of Ireland Lynn Dowling (Bradley) - Raheny United Karen Duggan – Piltown Catriona McGilp - Cabinteely FC Louise Quinn - Peamount Grace Murray - Dundalk City WFC Lynn-Marie Grant - Lifford Gillian McDonnell - Dundalk City WFC Julienne Russell - Salthill Devon Áine O’Gorman - Stella Maris Noelle Murray - Raheny United Jennifer Critchley – Lifford
Subs Niamh Reid-Burke - Raheny United Amanda Parkes - Wilton United Christina Byrne - Raheny United on for Russell, 45 Mins Kara Mullins – Galway Bohs on for McDonnell, 78 Mins Patrice Kearney – Wilton United Susan Hackett - Stella Maris Stephanie Roche - Dundalk City WFC on for Critchley, 62 Mins |