Soccer

Women’s Under-17 Republic of Ireland side qualify for European finals

Uefa confirm qualification after Dave Connell’s team finished their Elite Phase unbeaten on April 14th

Republic of Ireland manager Dave Connell speaks to his team during the Uefa Women’s Under-17 European Championship Elite Phase Group 2 match against Hungary at Turners Cross, Cork. Photograph: Inpho
Republic of Ireland manager Dave Connell speaks to his team during the Uefa Women’s Under-17 European Championship Elite Phase Group 2 match against Hungary at Turners Cross, Cork. Photograph: Inpho
Thu Apr 16 2015 - 21:22

Uefa gave official confirmation on Thursday evening that Dave Connell's women's Under-17 Republic of Ireland side are through to the European finals, having finished their Elite Phase unbeaten on April 14th.

The side finished best runners up out of the six qualifying groups in the Elite Phase but had to wait until all of the matches were completed today before receiving final confirmation from Uefa.

The confirmation means that Ireland qualify to the finals in Iceland in June and take their place among last eight in Europe.

Welcoming the news, Connell said: “It’s been a hard wait but probably as far back as Tuesday evening we were pretty confident that things would go our way. You always have to wait for Uefa confirmation with these situations and the girls had been on to me morning noon and night so it is great for them that it’s now confirmed. I am delighted for them. They worked really hard to get the results against England, the Netherlands and Hungary.

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“Looking back at the Hungary match on DVD, the Hungarians definitely handled the ball on the line but unfortunately that was missed by the officials. It would have been nice to qualify automatically but now the focus turns to the finals in Iceland. We will go there as the outsiders but we did that last year with the under 19 girls and hopefully we can create a few upsets this time too.”