The Ireland under-18s beat the Home Countries champions, Scotland, 1-0, in the European Youth Trophy tournament in Belfast yesterday to retain A division status. The Irish side had lost 5-2 to the Scots in Cardiff last month, but this time the performance was totally unyielding.
The only goal came after three minutes when, following the breakdown of a short corner, Jonathan Quigley switched the ball back into the circle for Peter McConnell to score at the far post.
The game was then tightly fought with Quigley and David Armstrong holding their own in midfield and Karl Burns showing typical composure at the back.
After the tentative start against England, Stephen Jackson's team has developed to the point where Belgium will be strongly challenged for fifth place this morning.
In Antwerp, the Irish under-16s, who also faced Scotland yesterday, fought boldly in a bid to avoid the wooden spoon, but although Steven Wolfe gave his side a 2-1 lead at half-time and David Roche made it 3-3 at the finish, the Scots won the subsequent shoot-out, 3-2.
The Ireland side lacked maturity in this inaugural tournament but the experience was beginning to show dividends, particularly in losing by only 2-1 to Germany on Sunday.
There was a sobering experience in Amsterdam for Three Rock Rovers who lost to Lille, 7-1, in the European Cup Winners' Cup. So neither Cork C of I nor Rovers themselves, who meet in the Irish Senior Cup final on April 24th, will be in the A division next year.
Meanwhile, the Irish senior squad returned home yesterday after their useful training weekend in warm conditions in Padua. Dan Clarke, though, was disappointed that he could not play against Switzerland nor Italy because of a recurrence of back trouble. He will be hoping to be fit for the two games against Japan in Dublin at the end of May.
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