11.04.05 UEFA U19 Championships - The story so far...

At international level, 2004/05 has brought many remarkable results, particularly for our Under 19 team. Following on from a comprehensive warm-up period which saw Ian Stewarts team achieve a record of 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, the Under 19's traveled to Prague for the 1st Round of the UEFA Under 19 Championships. Facing the European Champions Spain, a formidable Czech Republic team and Macedonia was never going to be an easy task.

In the opening game of the tournament, Northern Ireland lost narrowly to the Czech Republic team, despite dominating most the game. Although bitterly disappointed by this result, Ian rallied his troops and in their second game only lost 3 - 0 to Spain. Despite suffering 3 goals in the first half, the under 19's put in an impressive performance in the second period and no further goals were conceded.

Going into the last game the staff were aware that it was still possible to qualify for the 2nd Round of the Championship as one of the best third placed teams. From the outset, our objective had always been qualification and in order to do so, we now had to beat Macedonia by a large margin. After a tentative 20 minutes, in which staff and players found it difficult to play under the pressure, we finally found the first goal. Northern Ireland players and staff relaxed a little and then the goals just kept coming - a total of six in the end, and a glorious place in the 2nd Round of the Championships was the reward.

The Under 19's will now travel to Switzerland (24th April - 1st May 2005) for the 2nd Round of the Championships where they will face Ukraine, Poland and the hosts, all of whom will vying for that elusive spot in the Finals in July.