IRELAND’S UNDER-17 girls have progressed to the quarter finals of the under 17 women’s World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago.

Noel King’s team beat Ghana 3-0 in their final group stage match after losing their opening match 2-1 to Brazil and beating Canada 1-0 last week. The result means that Ireland finish top of their group, ahead of Brazil on goal difference.

Megan Campbell followed up her fantastic goal against Canada with another cracker to open the scoring last night, and another goal from Stacie Donnelly gave the Irish a 2-1 lead at half time.

Just before half time, Ghana were awarded a penalty after Aileen Gilroy fouled Beatrice Sesu. Mary Essiful shot the wrong side of the post though.

Aileen Gilroy smashed another goal in in the second half to seal an emphatic win. Megan Campbell’s goal was named goal of the day on the Fifa website. “The keeper had come off her line a little bit and we’re under instructions to shoot from anywhere,” explained Campbell after her latest dead-ball exploit.

Ireland will face Japan in the quarter final, after the Japanese beat New Zealand 6-0 last night to finish second in Group C.