Ireland can still seal spot in semis

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND U19 manager Paul Doolin is convinced victory in tomorrow’s last fixture in the pool will seal them a European Championship semi-final spot.

After losing their first chance to secure a place in Friday’s last-four tie when they allowed an interval lead slip against the top seeds Czech Republic on Saturday evening in Mogosoaia, Ireland have another opportunity to secure passage at the expense of bottom side Romania (tomorrow night, 7pm Irish time).

Ireland made their first-half dominance against the Czech Republic count by taking John O’Sullivan’s 10th minute opener into the interval only to succumb midway through the second period to a couple of Czech goals in a two minute spellt.

Greece, beaten 2-1 by Ireland’s on Tuesday, moved back into contention for one of the two qualifying berths into the knockout stages by overcoming Romania 1-0.

The Czechs are in pole position for their fourth semi-final spot in the space of eight years with a maximum six point haul from their opening two games.

Ireland are deadlocked with Greece on three points, though it would appear Doolin’s side have the easier task to negotiate as they tackle the host nation low on confidence following back-to-back defeats.

All of which means various possibilities remain going into tomorrow’s last round. An Ireland victory coupled with a draw or win for the Czechs against Greece would see Doolin’s side progress. A Greece victory over the leaders and an Irish win would mean goal difference and the head-to-head rule come into play.

“We’re still in with a good chance going into the last group game and that’s all I could have asked for coming out here,” said Doolin yesterday in Bucharest.

“It’s still the same situation. We could have lost the first game and won on Saturday and we’d be in the same position. There are a huge load of permutations but it’s simple for us as far I see it. If we win we go through.”

He added: “Romania are the host nation and they probably want to finish out with some sort of positive result, but we just have to look to ourselves. They have lost a couple of games and they don’t have a lot to play for.

“The Czechs mightn’t play a strong team but they might not want to face Spain, which would happen if they finished second. For us, apart from getting to the semi-finals, I want to play Spain. I’d like to have a go at Spain. I would like to say that we’ve played the best country in world football at the moment.”

IRELAND: McCarey (Wolves); Doherty (Wolves), Egan (Sunderland), O’Connor (Blackburn Rovers), Williams (Aston Villa); Murray (Watford), Carruthers (Aston Villa), O’Sullivan (Blackburn Rovers), Hendrick (Derby County), Forde (Wolves); Smith (Watford).

Subs: Ferdinand (Southend United) for O’Sullivan (57), Murphy (Bray Wanderers) for Smith (64), Knight (unattached) for Murray (76).

CZECH REPUBLIC: Koubek; Hála, Brabec, Kalas, Jelec(ek; Kader(ábek, Jánoš, Sladký, Krejc(í; Skalák, Pr(ikryl.

Subs: Lácha for Skalák (46), Kraus for Sladký (55), Polom for Jánoš (77).

Referee: Tamas Bognar (Hungary).