Golden moment of history for Irish

THE Republic of Ireland reached the last eight of the World Youth Championships finals in quite sensational fashion at the Shah Aiam Stadium in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Reduced in strength by injury, suspension and illness, the Irish defied all the odds by earning a place in the quarterfinals with a gritty and controlled performance against Morocco.

And it was Damien Duff who turned out to be the real hero as he drove home the winner six minutes into extra time and put the Irish through on the golden goal rule.

It is the first time an Irish international team have been involved in such a scenario and it is the first time, too, that the Republic have reached this stage in these championships.

Ireland will now play the winners of today's match between Spain and Canada at the same venue next Sunday evening (8.30 p.m. local time, 1.30 pm. Irish, time).

In bed all day on Tuesday with a high temperature and food poisoning, Blackburn Rovers striker Duff was a doubtful starter right up to lunch time. But what a game he had.

Duff's golden moment arrived six minutes into the extra period. Receiving the ball down the left from full back Robbie Ryan, Duff shielded it against a defender and when he had him beaten, waited until Moroccan goalkeeper Tarik el Jarmouni committed himself and then calmly sent the ball to the empty net.

"It was an exquisite piece of skill by Damien to beat the full back and the goalkeeper for the goal," said manager Brian Kerr. "But I have said it all along. We have some very skilful players in our side.

This will be a day long remembered by the Irish team and backroom staff. And they celebrated last night with the Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, Brendan Lyons, who invited them to a function after the game.

But while Duff may be singled out as a hero for scoring the vital winning goal, this Irish youth team deserves the highest commendations.

Under the cosh before they started due to the absence through suspension of first choice goalkeeper Derek O'Connor and captain Thomas Morgan, along with the injured John Burns, Ireland needed, to remain calm and patient particularly in the closing stages as Morocco turned on the heat.

On a number of occasions, the Moroccans went close to scoring. A 30 yard strike from Abdelaziz Larabi grazed the crossbar in the 69th minute and just 13 minutes later, standin captain David Worrell was lucky to block a shot by Noureddine Kacemi for a corner.

But in those hectic final moments the Irish played calm, cool football, maintained their presence and their composure and won the game in sparkling fashion.

Up front for the Irish, Dessie Baker, starting his first game in the championships, was a revelation and showed some wonderful speed on the wing, while Neale Fenn worked himself to the bone, crowning his match with the first goal.

It came in the 34th minute when Baker had a great run down the right. When he sent over a cross, it was headed back into the penalty area by Alan Kerby and Fenn finished it to the net.

However, just nine minutes later, Irish hearts sank when David Worrell could not avoid putting the ball into his own net. A Moroccan cross from the left was missed by Robbie Ryan and the ball fell at the feet of Mohamed Jabrane. He struck a fierce shot right across the face of the Irish goal which beat goalkeeper Paul Whelan and crashed off the legs of Worrell into the empty net.

Throughout the second half, the Irish lived dangerously at times, but they held out to go into extra time and were rewarded with Duff's golden goal.