IRELAND HAVE QUALIFIED for the Uefa Women’s U17 Championship after results in the final round of fixtures saw them finish as the best runners-up.
Dave Connell’s side finished second in Group 2 and missed out on automatic qualification with a 0-0 draw against Hungary on Tuesday.
With only one of the six runners-up progressing to this summer’s tournament in Iceland, they faced an anxious wait before their place was confirmed.
Results went their way today as Finland were beaten 4-0 by Group 1 winners Switzerland while in Group 5, Sweden were held to a 1-1 draw against Norway.
Like Ireland, Sweden clocked up four points against the first and third placed teams but Ireland’s superior goal difference got them over the line.
“It’s been a hard wait but probably as far back as Tuesday evening we were pretty confident that things would go our way,” Connell said.
“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.
“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.”
The finals will take place between 22 June and 4 July.
