Irish take control to go through

Uefa Under-21 C'ship/ Republic of Ireland 3 Azerbaijan 0 (Republic of Ireland win 5-1 on agg): With the hard work having been done in Baku a week earlier, Ireland might have made their passage through to September's group stage against Belgium and Greece a trifle less demanding before 1,600 spectators at a sodden Buckley Park last night, as they had to wait until 20 minutes from the end to finally kill off an abject Azeri team in as one-sided a game you might which to see.

After a 12-minute delay in the kick-off due to a problem with one of the nets, Ireland wasted little time in gaining control and utterly dominated, forcing a staggering 14 corners in the first half alone.

Disappointingly, the very wet conditions accepted, Ireland were making very little use of them, with an Alex Bruce header from Roy O'Donovan's delivery being cleared off the line by Jeyhun Adishirinov on 20 minutes the closest they came to piercing the Azeri rearguard from set plays.

But a terrific, five-man move on the half hour deserved to give Don Givens' youngsters the lead.

Richard Keogh, Marcos Painter and Michael Timlin worked the ball down the left to Aiden McGeady. The Celtic star skipped past the full back to cross, but O'Donovan's volley at a stretch was straight at Agayev.

The Cork City winger would make no mistake eight minutes later when finally giving Ireland their deserved lead. Having worked the ball to Andy Keogh on the right, O'Donovan peeled away to get on the end of the return cross and his header had too much power for Agayev.

In a rare counter, Azeri captain Murad Aghakishiyev curled a well-struck shot just over the Ireland crossbar on 55 minutes as the visitors momentarily came more out of their shell.

Ireland killed off the game on 69 minutes when Kevin Foley got forward from right-back to get on the end of the O'Donovan's cross and head past Agayev.

A blunder by Levin gifted Keogh Ireland's third goal six minutes later when he sliced Timlin's cross to the Scunthorpe striker who tapped home from six yards.

In the only thing he had to do in the match, Irish goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin saved a stoppage-time penalty from Igor Gurbanov after he had pulled down Yuni Sasha.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Gilmartin (Walsall); Foley (Luton Town), Keogh (Bristol City), Bruce (Birmingham City), Painter (Birmingham City); Flood (Manchester City), Keegan (Drogheda United), Timlin (Fulham); O'Donovan (Cork City), A. Keogh (Scunthorpe United), McGeady (Celtic). Subs: Tabb (Brentford) for Flood (74 mins), Behan (Cork City) for A. Keogh (81 mins), Dicker (UCD) for Keegan (85 mins).

AZERBAIJAN: Agayev; Asgandarov, Sasha, Adishirinov (Abbasov, 38 mins); Amircanov, Gadiri (Abdulayev, 78 mins), Levin, Yusifov, Khalilov (Agayarzade, 85 mins); Aghakishiyev, Gurbanov.

Referee: A. Casha (Malta).