Ireland U17 secure victory in qualifier against Austria
Credit:
Austria 0 Republic of Ireland 1
The Republic of Ireland U17 team got off to a brilliant start to their UEFA Champions Elite Qualifying Round with a 1-0 victory over hosts Austria in Schwechat-Rannersdorf on Monday night.
In a tie played in freezing conditions with snow falling throughout the game, Tom Mohan’s side survived an injury time penalty scare to secure the precious three points.
The first chance of the game fell to Austria when Tobias Pellegrini hit the bar in the fifth minute but Ireland quickly took control and created early chances through Reece Grego-Cox and Jack Byrne.
In the 22nd minute Grego-Cox latched onto a perfectly weighted through ball from Eoghan Stokes to slot the ball to the bottom corner of the net to give Ireland the lead and the Irish controlled the remainder of the half.
Austria started the second half brightly and brought three excellent saves from Peter Burke in opening ten minutes of the second half. In the 45th minute Eoghan Stokes beat two men only to see his shot roll just outside the helpless keeper’s post.
Cody Mulhall’s super pass put Grego-Cox through again only to see his shot smothered by the onrushing goalkeeper Alexsander Schlager. Jack Byrne brought another save from the follow up.
The final 15 minutes of the game opened up as both teams created chance culminating in Burke’s penalty save from Adrian Grbic after an Irish hand-ball from a free kick.
Ireland sit on three points with Serbia on top of the group. The Serbs beat Georgia 2-0 next game is against Georgia on Wednesday morning.
Republic of Ireland: Peter Burke, Bobby Moseley, Pierce Mitchell, Robin Dempsey, Daniel Cleary, Cody Mulhall, Eoghan Stokes, Jack Byrne, Jake Mulraney (Harry Charsley 81), Reece Grego-Cox.
UEFA U-17 European Championships 2012-13 Elite Round – Group 2
March 25: Republic of Ireland 1 Austria 0, Sportzentrum Schwechat-Ranners, Schwechat-Rannersdorf (6.00pm Irish)
March 27: Republic of Ireland v Georgia, WFV Hirschstetten, Vienna (11.00am)
March 30: Republic of Ireland v Serbia, WFV Hirschstetten, Vienna (2.00pm).
