The Republic of Ireland Ireland's underage bandwagon cranked up another gear in Ayia Napa last night where a comfortable defeat of the Cypriot hosts of these European Youth Championships finals, combined with Croatia's 3-0 win over England, sent an Irish team into a major UEFA title decider for the second times in just over two months.
On Wednesday, team manager Brian Kerr had warned against dwelling on the result against England too much, observing that less fancied sides have a habit of throwing spanners in the works at this stage of competitions.
By half-time last night, the Irish had done what they needed to do here and knew that they could tell their fate by listening to their 300 supporters on the terraces. Just before half-time Brian Kerr's green and white army began to make all the right noises - a Branko Banovic penalty had put Croatia in front against England.
That game stayed 1-0 until a few minutes from the end. By then, Robbie Keane's second goal of the night - Barry Quinn scored Ireland's opener - had reduced the Irish match to little more than a stroll.
The Croats, however, were still going at it hell for leather. Mihael Mikic made it 2-0 with 11 minutes to play and then the striker, who had caused Ireland a great many problems on Sunday, made it three as the game moved into injury time.
The reaction was predictable. "They're going home, they're going home, England's going home," echoed around the hills of Ayia Napa as the 300 Irish fans began their celebrations. On the pitch, where the final whistle had already sounded, it was bedlam. During the game, the Cypriots, demoralised by defeats in their opening two games, looked tired and disorganised and Liam George and Robbie Keane were, as they had against the Croatians on Sunday, able to do much as they wanted despite a half-hearted attempt to man-mark them.
There certainly wasn't any apparent way the hosts could come up with the two goals required to cancel out the Irish half-time lead. Ireland's third prompted a couple of switches by Kerr as he began his preparations for Sunday's final.
Robbie Keane, whose first goal on the stroke of half-time had come from a spectacular volley, and the man who set it up, Ger Crossley, were both given a breather after outstanding performances. Richard Dunne and Jason Gavin, at the heart of the defence, and team captain Barry Quinn in the centre of midfield continued, as they had done all night, to run the show. Dunne had set up Quinn's goal, a close-range header, with a tremendous cross after 19 minutes, while Thomas Heary won good possession before starting the move that led to Keane making it three with a low drive from the edge of the area.
In between the only real question was how many the Irish would score in a game made disjointed by the number of minor infringements committed by the hosts.
Cyprus' best chance of the game came after just six minutes when Charalampos Koutouri skimmed the top of Alex O'Reilly's bar from 30 yards, but for the remainder of the 90 minutes, the West Ham goalkeeper might as well have taken the night off. He can expect to be slightly more busy on Sunday evening in Larnaca.
Cyprus: Agapiou (Ethnicos Achnas); Theofilou (Appollon Limassol); Ilia (Apoel Nicosia), Ioannou (AEL Limassol); Voskaridis (Appollon), Loizides (Omonia Nicosia), Christou (Anorthosis Famagusta), Kittou (Ermis Aradippou), Konnafis (Omonia Nicosia), Angeli (Nea Salamina Famagusta), Pochouzouri (Apoel). SUBS: Koutouri (Omonia Aradippou) for Kittou (5 mins), Hadjantonis (Evagoras Paphos) for Pochouzouri (58 mins), Chrysafi (Ethnikos Achna) for Koutouri (69).
Republic Of Ireland: O'Reilly (West Ham); Heary (Huddersfield), Dunne (Everton), Gavin (Middlesbrough), Doyle (St Patrick's Athletic); O'Brien (Middlesbrough), B Quinn (Coventry), A Quinn (Sheffield Wednesday), Crossley (Celtic); George (Luton), Keane (Wolves). SUBS: Partridge (Liverpool) for O'Brien (68 mins), Freeman (Notts Forest) for Keane (80 mins), Donnelly (Leeds United) for Crossley (81 mins).
Referee: Pascal Garibian (France).
