Ireland U17 start qualifying campaign with impressive win

The Republic of Ireland got their UEFA U17 European Championship qualifying campaign off to a fine start as goals from Justin Ferizaj, Mark O’Mahony, Kevin Zefi, Sam Curtis and Rocca Vata gave the Boys in Green a 5-0 win over Andorra at Turner’s Cross.

The Republic of Ireland are in a group with Poland, North Macedonia and Andorra and now top the group after Poland and North Macedonia played out a scoreless draw.

Ferizaj opened the scoring for Ireland after only 13 minutes. The Shamrock Rovers midfielder weaved past a number of players before firing home a low shot from the edge of the box.

Despite their first half dominance Ireland failed to score again in the first half but made up for that in the second. A deflected O’Mahony strike from a Rocca Vata cross on 59 minutes eased any Irish worries.

Zefi was the next on the scoresheet with a low finish into the corner of the Andorran net. Sam Curtis added a fourth with 16 minutes to play and, two minutes later, Vata completed the Irish scoring with a long range effort.

The Republic of Ireland will now face North Macedonia on Sunday at 7pm before completing the group with a Wednesday afternoon clash with Poland. All the Irish games are taking place in Turner’s Cross.  

The Republic of Ireland U17 squad is made up of 17 home based players with a player each from Celtic, Villareal and Inter Milan.

Republic of Ireland: Walsh; Curtis, Heffernan, Browne, O’Brien; Vata (Murray 76), McManus, Ferizaj (Lipsuic 76); Umeh (Nolan 67), McLoughlin (O’Mahony 54), Zefi.