Irish confidence high ahead of Spain clash

Confidence is high in the Republic of Ireland Women’s Under 19 squad ahead of their UEFA European Championship against Spain on Tuesday evening.

Dave Connell’s squad have been meticulous in their preparation for their first ever appearance in these finals, where they are paired in Group B with Spain, England and Sweden.

The history logs show that each of Ireland’s opponents have all lifted the U19 trophy in recent years, but that won’t even enter the thoughts of Connell’s troops, who believe in their own abilities.

After all, this is a team that went unbeaten in qualifying, where they recorded wins over Kazakhstan, Greece, Austria, and Turkey, and got key attackers Clare Shine and Katie McCabe back from injuries.

Having spent time together in Dublin ahead of these finals, the atmosphere around the squad is relaxed and Connell insists they are ready for their first game in Oslo, which kicks off at 6pm Irish time.

“It’s Spain in the first game and all of our training sessions have been geared towards that first game. We haven’t looked at the English or the Swedish games at all yet. We played both of them in La Manga (tournament) in March – drew with England, beat Sweden,” said Connell.

“We know what to expect. It’s a hard group. But we’ve got our homework done on them (Spain) and we fancy our chances. We have very hard-working girls and we’re a tough nut to crack, so we’re going to make it difficult for them.

“There are eight countries in it and we’re in as eighth seed because we are in as the best runner-up. We got through the September (qualifying) campaign unbeaten, we got through the La Manga tournament unbeaten, and we got through Holland (elite qualifiers) unbeaten.

“When it comes to the nitty gritty and the hard work in the group stages and competition time the girls are very focused. We’ve a good side and we’re looking forward to it – we’re not fearing anyone.”

While Spain scored 13 goals in three elite phase qualifiers, they will be fully aware of the threat posed by Ireland, who make full use of 4-3-3 system with smart attacking and defensive play.

Connell has several players capable of finding the back of the net, including Shine and McCabe, while Megan Connolly possesses a terrific strike from set-pieces and that could prove to be a useful weapon.

With England and Sweden to come before the tournament rolls on into the knock-out stages, Ireland are focusing solely on collecting the three points on offer against Spain.