WHEN Ciarán Lyng turned his back on Gaelic games at the age of 16 in pursuit of a career in English soccer, he could hardly have anticipated his first opportunity of playing in a world-class stadium in front of a capacity crowd would be in a Leinster football final.

BRIAN Kerr stressed last night how invaluable a good start against Germany would be for his Republic of Ireland U17’s tonight as they head into one of the most challenging groups imaginable in the Euro Championship qualifiers.

Brian Kerr has named a squad of 22 players for the first qualifying phase of the European 2003 Under-17 Championships in Cork from October 21 to October 25, 2002.