IRELAND WILL COMPETE at this year’s Uefa U17 Championship after booking their place in the finals today.

Tom Mohan’s men went into the final set of fixtures in the Elite Phase qualifier in pole position having drawn 2-2 with Greece and beaten Belarus 3-1. They faced Poland knowing a combination of results would see them progress.

As it happened, Ireland lost 1-0 to Paweł Kaczmarczyk’s 10th-minute goal from close range but Greece’s 0-0 stalemate with Belarus means the Boys in Green go through as one of the seven best runners-up.

It was a hard battle and we would have loved to get a result but we’re delighted to progress to the finals,” said Mohan.

“It’s a massive group effort from staff, players – four lads couldn’t come here this week through injuries – but the lads on the pitch did fantastic work. Everybody has just been fantastic.”

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The finals take place in Bulgaria from 6-22 May.

IRELAND: Kelleher, O’Keeffe, Lunney (Stokes 41), Masterson, Leahy, Hanney, Barrett, Ronan, Clarke (Levingston 71), Wade-Slater (Elbouzedi 55), Aherne.

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