Gallagher helps Republic of Ireland to go through

15 October 2012 08:52
Over the weekend the Republic of Ireland qualified for the Elite Round of the UEFA European Under 19 Championships with a win against Macedonia in Luxembourg.

Burnley midfielder Luke Gallagher was again in the side that won 1-0 with a goal from Michael Drennan nine minutes from time, the young Aston Villa forward following up his hat trick in the 5-2 win against Luxembourg.

That means the Republic of Ireland are already through, as are Germany, who have also beaten the same two countries, and the two will meet in the final game on Tuesday whilst the bottom two play each other in the hopes of avoiding the bottom place.

The next round, the Elite Round, will again be played in groups of four in a mini-tournament. The draw will be made in December with all the games in this round to be played in the spring of next year.

There will be 28 countries in the Elite Round, split into seven groups with only the winners going through to the finals which will be held in Lithuania between 20th July and 1st August 2013.

The performances from the team have certainly impressed coach Paul Doolin, who said after this second win: "“I’m delighted with the win and that we’ve done what we came out here to do and qualified for the Elite Phase from this group.

"This is only the second time that this group of players have met up having had their first friendly last month in Latvia and to come out of these two games with six points is a great achievement particularly with the injuries which we’ve also had in the build up to this trip so to achieve what they have in those circumstances is a fantastic achievement.”

Source: FOOTYMAD