Tough European draws for Irish Women

The draws for the Elite Phases of the 2012-13 UEFA Women’s U17 and U19 Championships were made on Tuesday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon with the Republic of Ireland receiving tough draws in both competitions. The draws were also made for the first rounds of the 2013-14 competitions and Ireland will host the U19 mini-qualifying tournament next September.

The U19 Women were among the top six seeds in their draw after emerging from their first round group with a 100 per cent record against Serbia, Latvia and Cyprus but once again they got no luck in the draw as they found themselves in Group 1 alongside defending champions Sweden, 2008 winners Italy and the Netherlands who will host the group. Both Italy and Sweden were group winners in the first round while Austria finished as runners-up to Switzerland in Group 10.

The U17 Women, who emerged from their first round group with three wins over Belarus, Georgia and Finland, were second seeds in their draw and they were drawn against Poland, Norway and Austria who will host the group. Norway were top seeds after winning a group that contained Turkey, Latvia and Wales while Poland finished runners-up to Spain and Austria were runners-up to Sweden on goal difference after finishing level on points.

Dave Connell, who is manager of both Ireland teams, attended today’s draws in Nyon, and gave his reaction afterwards

“They are all tough draws at this stage of the competition but we certainly drew some of the big guns in the U19 competition as they don’t come much tougher than the holders Sweden, Italy and Holland. We went into that draw as top seeds and this has brought us back down to reality but, to be honest, we never seem to had much luck in past draws either. That said, I don’t think any of the others will be looking forward to facing us in either competition,” said Connell.

The U17 draw was tinged with sadness as the Head of Delegation for the U17s first round qualifying tournament in Belarus last September was Jeremy Dee who will be buried tomorrow in Mayo after being tragically killed in a road traffic accident on Sunday morning while travelling to Dubllin for the Bus Eireann Women’s National League game between Shamrock Rovers and Castlebar Celtic, whom he managed. Connell said that Jeremy Dee was very much in his thoughts as the draw being made.

“Jeremy was with us in Belarus as Head of Delegation when we qualified for the Elite Phase and it would nice if we could get through this group and qualify for the finals for him as he will be sadly missed,” said Connell.

In the draws for the 2013-14 competitions, the U17s will travel to Russia for their first round group and face the hosts as well as Turkey and Bosnia Herzogovina while the U19s are going to host a group that will contain Denmark, Greece and Kazakhstan.

2012-13 UEFA Women’s Championship Draws

Women’s U17 Elite Phase (March 26-31, 2013): Republic of Ireland, Poland, Norway, Austria (hosts).

Women’s Under 19 Elite Phase (April 4–9, 2013): Republic of Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Netherlands (hosts).

2013-14 UEFA Women’s Championship Draws

Women’s U17 First Qualifying Round (August 6-11): Republic of Ireland, Turkey, Bosnia Herzogovina, Russia (hosts).

Women’s U19 First Qualifying Round (September 21-26): Republic of Ireland (Hosts), Denmark, Greece, Kazakhstan