The Republic of Ireland U19 Women's Squad can secure a place in the second round of the UEFA European Championship by beating Latvia when they meet in Serbia tomorrow.
Ireland got off to a winning start in Group 1 on Saturday when goals from Denise O'Sullivan, Gemma McGuinness and Rihanna Jarrett gave them a 3-0 win over Cyprus. Latvia, on the other hand, were on the wrong end of a 15-0 defeat by Serbia.
The top two will qualify for the second round and while Ireland will start as favourites against Latvia, manager Dave Connell wants his side to focus purely on winning the three points.
"The objective against Latvia is to win, qualify for the second round with a game to go, and then concentrate on playing Serbia for the top spot on Thursday," said Connell.
After watching his side create 21 goal-scoring chances in the win over Cyprus and only take three of them, Connell and his coaches not surprisingly spent today's training session concentrating on finishing.
He used 14 players against Cyprus and was delighted that Peamount United's Chole Mustaki and Raheny United's Katie McCabe, who had been injured in the run-up to the qualifying tournament, were able to come on as second-half substitutes on Saturday. Both are likely to play against Latvia as are goalkeeper Courtney Brosnan, Grace Wright, Carys Johnston and Sinead O'Farrelly who were all unused substitutes against Cyprus.
"I would like to give all the girls in the squad a run during the tournament and hopefully we can get them all on the pitch at some stage," said Connell.
Republic of Ireland U19 Women's Squad: Jillian Moloney (GSA 95 Phoenix Red, USA), Courtney Brosnan (PDA Slammers, USA), Denise O'Sullivan (Cork Women's FC), Emma Hansberry (Castlebar Celtic), Claire Shine (Cork Women's FC), Kelly Halligan (Blackburn Rovers), Gemma McGuinness (Greencastle FC), Rihanna Jarrett (Wexford Youths), Grace Wright (Challenge FC, USA), Ciara O'Connell (Cork Women's FC), Katie McCabe (Raheny United), Shauna Newman (Raheny United), Carys Johnson (Everton), Emily Cahill (Peamount United), Lauren Murphy (Cork Women's FC), Chloe Mustaki (Peamount United), Sinead O'Farrelly (Raheny United), Orlagh Nolan (Shamrock Rovers).
Group 1 Details
Results
October 20: Republic of Ireland 3 Cyprus 0, Sebia 15 Lativa 0
Fixtures
October 22: Republic of Ireland v Latvia, Serbia v Cyprus, 1.30pm (Irish time)
October 25: Serbia v Republic of Ireland, Cyprus v Lativa, 1pm (Irish time)
Table
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Pts |
GD |
| Serbia |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
3 |
+15 |
| Rep of Ireland |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
+3 |
| Cyprus |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
-3 |
| Latvia |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
-15 |
International 
