Fighting Irish boys keep Euro dreams alive

Ireland can secure second place in their European Under-21 Championship qualification group by beating Turkey at home in August after claiming a draw against leaders Italy yesterday at the Showgrounds in Sligo.

Noel King’s side were lucky to be just one behind to Shane Duffy’s third minute own goal at the break but Ciro Immobile extended the Italians’ lead 10 minutes after the break with a low drive.

Back came the Irish and following Robbie Brady’s penalty strike on 67 minutes, captain Greg Cunningham completed the comeback four minutes later by equalising with his first goal at this level.

Rhys Murphy could have nicked all three points for Ireland with a swerved shot which Francesco Bardi did well to bat away but that would have been harsh on the Italians, who had Marco Verrati sent off in stoppage time for a cynical foul on Aidan White.

With three qualifiers remaining, Ireland’s feat in taking the first point off the Azzurri in six games puts them in a commanding position to secure a runner-up spot.

As the four best second-placed teams across the 10 groups proceed to a play-off for next year’s finals in Israel, King insists his team must close the deal in the remaining matches against Turkey, Hungary and the return fixture in Italy.

“I think five points would be enough to get a play-off, starting with victory over Turkey at home in August,” he said. “We’ve got two games in hand over Turkey and they finish their campaign against us here in Sligo needing some points to stay in contention.

“The lads will take a lot of positives from this performance.

“We had to keep fighting and, in fairness, to the lads they didn’t surrender. Your worry is that when you go to push the game, you might concede three or four but we had to go for it.”

Everton defender Duffy, who atoned for his own goal by earning the penalty which resurrected Ireland, admitted he was relieved to get a draw. He said: “The lads got me out of hole because I was mentally weak in the first half and didn’t play well at all.”

IRELAND: I. McLoughlin (MK Dons); J. Egan (Sunderland), S. Duffy (Everton), N. Canavan (Scunthorpe), G. Cunningham (Man City) — capt; J. Hendrick (Derby), R. Towell (Unattached), E. O’Kane (Torquay); R. Brady (Man Utd), R. Murphy (Unattached), A. White (Leeds). Subs: A. McCarey (Wolves) for McLoughlin (59 mins), J. Collins (Shrewsbury Town) for Murphy (89 mins).

ITALY: F. Bradi; D. Santon, M. Capuano, L. Caldirola, A. Crescenzi; A. Florenzi, M. Verratti, L. Marrone, L. Insigne; M. Destro, C. Immobile. Subs: A. Paloschi for Destro (73), S. El Shaarawy for Immobile (85) S. Romagnoli for Paloschi (90).

Referee: E. Hancon (Israel).