Sean McCafrrey's U19 team fell to a very disappointing 1 nil defeat against Poland in their opening UEFA Elite Group 7 qualifier in Novi Sad this afternoon. With hosts Serbia &Montenegro having defeated Albania 7-1 earlier in the day the prospects of qualifying for the finals in Northern Ireland have been dealt a severe blow.

In a match of very few chances, Poland dominated the midfield area and their retention of the ball was much superior to a very disappointing Ireland. The opening 20 minutes were very uneventful with play restricted to the midfield area. Ireland had the first opening of the game on 25 minutes when Manchester United's Darron Gibson got in behind the defence on the right but chose the wrong option by shooting weakly at the goalkeeper.

Defences continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the half with the clear and decisive instructions given by Darren Randolph to his defenders the principal point. Disaster struck for Ireland on the stroke of half time when a corner on the left was allowed to float across the six yard box without challenge and on dropping at the far post was scrambled to the net by Poland.
The early stages of the second half continued to be frustrating for Ireland with Poland retaining the ball for long passages of play, On 66 minutes, Cork City's Shane Long replaced Andy Keogh and two minutes later Ireland might have equalised when left back Marcos Painter of Birmingham City got his head to a cross delivered from the left by Aston Villa's Stephen Foley but the keeper saved diving to his left.

In the 74th minute, Jonathan Hayes of Reading replced Diarmuid O'Carroll and his pace immediately caused problems for the Polish defenders. Ireland now pressed forward in search of the equaliser and centre back Richard Keogh headed just wide from a corner kick. Jonathan Hayes continued to provide Ireland's greatest threat and he was unlucky when having wriggled his way free his snap shot just drifted wide with the keeper beaten.

Ultimately, this was a very disappointing Irish performance and the remaining fixtures will certainly be a major test of ability and character for the management and players.