Ireland U19 focus on victory against England

After recording a historic win in their opening UEFA European Championship game, the Republic of Ireland Women’s Under 19 team are now eyeing up the semi-finals.

A single strike from Clare Shine was enough to inflict a 1-0 victory over Spain and move Dave Connell’s team into a great position to make it out of Group B and into the final four.

Next up is England on Friday night before taking on Sweden on Monday, but Connell is keeping his players focused on short-term targets and that revolves solely around winning the next game.

“We had a meeting after the meal when we got in (from the Spain game) just to get the girls back down from the clouds. We did very well but I think the girls are very focused on the game against England,” said Connell.

“Obviously we were a little bit confident coming into the tournament as we are on a good run – we’ve been unbeaten for the last nine games. So we were fairly confident but then again we were up against a really, really good side in Spain.

“They are renowned around the world for their good football and their Under 17’s are world champions a couple of times and they’ve won this competition, so it was an unbelievable win for us.

Gareth Maher previews Ireland versus England

“But everything now with the girls is focused towards England. We know how good they are, they’ve also won this tournament before and have that experience, but we will have our work done and be ready.”

Even though they were the better team in their match with Spain, there is still some room for improvement in the Ireland team, which is encouraging considering they had 11 shots on goal last Tuesday.

Shine, who netted the winner in the 54^th minute, went close on three other occasions, while Megan Connolly displayed her set-piece expertise and Katie McCabe created danger from open play.

The real strength of this Ireland team, however, is their unity and discipline. Every player knows their role, which is a credit to the coaching staff, and they support each other like comrades in arms.

If they are to achieve the desired result against England, then the Irish girls will have to repeat that game-plan and take their chances in front of goal. Should that happen, they could be into the semi-finals.

England v Republic of Ireland (Mjondalen Stadium, Norway; KO 6pm Irish Time)