Stephen Bermingham’s Cork City U19s well up for daunting Roma assignment

Stephen Bermingham’s Cork City U19 side must become the first Irish club side to win on Italian soil if they are to prolong their Uefa Youth League campaign this afternoon.

City’s youngsters head into today’s game against AS Roma at the Stadio Tre Fontane (ko 2pm Irish time) looking to overturn a 3-1 deficit from the first leg, when two late goals put a dampener on a fantastic Leeside performance. However, regardless of today’s outcome, the visitors have already made history as the first underage League of Ireland side to compete, and progress, in European competition.

A place in the play-off round is at stake in the Italian capital, which will see the teams who progress from this round via the ‘domestic champions’ pathway take on the second-placed teams in the ‘Champions League’ group-stage pathway for a place in the quarter-finals.