Football Association of Ireland - U17 Women ready for qualifiers

U17 Women ready for qualifiers

Created on Wednesday, 26 September 2012 10:15

The Republic of Ireland U17 Women's squad will assemble tomorrow ahead of their UEFA European U17 Women's Championship qualifying round in Belarus next week.

Ireland are in Group Nine along with Finland, Georgia and Belarus, who will host the mini-tournament in Minsk.

Dave Connell's side will start against Belarus on Monday, October 1, before facing Georgia on Wednesday, October 3 and round-off the tournament on Saturday, October 6, against Finland.

The Irish girls will train once tomorrow and twice on Friday at the AUL Complex in Clonshaugh before an early morning flight on Saturday to Minsk via Amsterdam.

Ireland warmed up for the UEFA qualifiers with two back to back matches against Denmark in Dublin at the beginning of September. It was a tough assignment as the Danes took third place in last season's UEFA Women's U17 Championship and like Ireland are top seeds in the qualifying phase. But, it turned out to be a good week for the Irish as they beat the Danes 2-0 in the first game and then came from behind to draw 1-1 in the second match with all three Irish goals being scored by College Corinthians striker Megan Connolly.

Four of the 11 groups in the first qualifying round have already been decided with Northern Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway and Spain qualifying for the elite qualifying phase. The 11 group winners will be joined by the five runners-up with the best record against the countries first and third in their section. Four teams will eventually qualify for the final tournament which, as in previous years, will be held in UEFA's hometown of Nyon, Switzerland from June 25 to 28 June.

Republic of Ireland U17 Women's Squad: Chelsea Noonan (Douglas Hall); Amy Corcoran (Peamount United), Savannah McCarthy (Listowel Celtic), Rebekah Carroll (Peamount United), Payton Goulding (Minnesota Thunder), Keeva Keenan (WFTA), Lauren Dwyer (Wexford Ladies), Lisa Casserly (Castlebar Celtic), Ciara McNamara (St. Marys, Cork), Ciara Rossiter (Wexford Ladies), Megan Connolly (College Corinthians), Aisling Frawley (Tramore FC), Amy O'Connor (Wilton United), Megan Kelleher (Kilmallock), Amber Barrett (Lagan Harps), Sara McGeough (Castlebar Celtic), Avril Brierley (St. Josephs), Megan Lynch (Shelbourne).

UEFA European Women's U17 Championship

Qualifying Round

Group 9 Schedule:

October 1

Republic of Ireland v Belarus

Kick-Off: 12pm (Irish time)

Stadium: Gorodskoi, Molodechno (BLR)

Referee: Cristina Bujor (ROU)

Finland v Georgia