Ireland put on five star display

It's been a while since we've heard the old "You'll never beat the Irish" routine done with any real conviction but last night in Ayia Napa those supporters fortunate enough to see Ireland's latest underage finals campaign hit the ground running could, without a fear in the world, have been subjected to lie detector tests as they greeted the final whistle in song.

Their celebrations were well justified for this was a cracking match and the sort of commanding display that we try not to expect from Brian Kerr's sides but which we seem to keep on getting anyway. In front from the first minute, the Irish grip on proceedings was not always watertight and at one stage the team managed to allow a two-goal lead to slip completely away, but they were back in front by the break and did more than enough through the second period to win and set up a cracking confrontation with last night's other Group B winners, England.

Liam George opened the scoring, just seconds after the game had started. Robbie Keane, with a little help from Ger Crossley and Barry Quinn, did the bulk of the work needed to get the ball from Thomas Heary's throw in on the right to the Luton striker in the middle of the six-yard box.

From the time Keane had doubled the Irish lead in the ninth minute it looked as though Kerr's side would stroll through their opening evening's work at these UEFA Youth Championships. The goal, for the third time in those opening stages, had exposed glaring weaknesses in Croatia's defence and with Ireland threatening their opponents' goal from every direction, it seemed that their 500 supporters were going to be given cause for celebration often as well as early.

Kerr's opposite number, Martin Novoselac, quickly started to shift away from his original gameplan, with right full back Goran Sablic handed the role of looking after Keane on a full-time basis and Mihael Mikic, their most technically gifted player, pulled back from the right side of a three-man attack to lend some creative weight in midfield.

Gradually, the switches began to have an impact and for the bulk of the game's second quarter it was the Irish back four who started to find themselves under the greater pressure. While fine performances from full-backs Thomas Heary and Keith Doyle went a long way towards limiting the difficulties faced by their goalkeeper, Mikic, in particular, caused a lot of problems and had his finishing been as good as his running on the ball, the Croatians might have turned the game around during this, their strongest spell.

They did actually draw level, Kerr's side first paying the overdue price for the number of free kick's the centre halves were conceding around the edge of the area, when Zvonimir Deranja's 25-yard drive took a slight touch as it passed through the wall on the way to the net and Sasa Bjelanovic getting higher than any one around him to head past Alex O'Reilly.

Another Heary throw started the move that led to Ireland `s third, and while Keane was again a central figure, it was Stephen McPhail who arrived to turn the ball in. Richie Partidge made it four with a sweetly hit chip 20 minutes into the second period - set up by Crossley - and after Alex O'Reilly pushed Mikic's penalty on to the post George wrapped it all up in the dying seconds, turning his marker inside out before opting to stick the ball firmly in the top corner rather than across the face of the goal where his team-mates were forming an orderly queue.

England opened their campaign with a 2-1 win over Cyprus. Leeds' Lee Matthews scored both goals in the ninth and 35th minutes, either side of an own-goal from his club-mate Jonathan Woodgate in the 19th minute.

The winners of the group go into the final to be played on July 27.