The contrast between the dirty grey skies above the sodden underfoot conditions at Turners Cross and the scintillating football produced in the first half of this UEFA qualifying match by Sean McCaffrey’s exciting U19 Republic of Ireland team could not be more vivid. With the rain, lashing across the ground the quality of play from McCaffrey’s young marvels was a joy to behold. The performance dealt an emphatic blow to those who bemoan the absence of talent among the younger echelons of Irish football. While it is much too early and indeed rather unfair to burden these youngsters with the responsibility of restoring Irish football to a higher level, the evidence presented by their performances throughout this qualifying group does set the pulses racing.

Sean McCaffrey announced an unchanged team from that which started against Moldova, while for the third successive match, the highly rated Arsenal striker Arturo Lupoli was on the bench for Italy – an indication of their strength perhaps!
Ireland was already assured of qualification for the next Elite phase of these UEFA Championships and Italy required a point to ensure that they too would qualify. the scene therefore was set for another epic Italian affair. Despite the appalling weather conditions, a large crowd attended Turners Cross, aided by the FAI’s initiative of distributing free tickets to schoolchildren in the local region.

Ireland opened the match in confident fashion and displayed their attacking intentions from the outset. The first shot of the game came after three minutes when Anthony Stokes ghosted past his marker and let fly from outside the box, forcing the Italian goalkeeper into the first action of what would be a very busy night for him. Throughout the tie, Stokes who is currently playing in a wide right position for Arsenal, displayed all of his attacking talent and blossoming football intelligence from his central position, and Ireland reaped the benefits of the freedom and flexibility afforded him by manager McCaffrey.

Calm composure coupled with creative passing was the order of the evening from Ireland. A shot just past the post from skipper John Paul Kelly was followed by another piece of skilful play by the Bohemians lad to release Billy Clarke who skipped past a defender to strike a sweet shot, which the goalkeeper saved at the near post. The breakthrough came in the eighteenth minute when Kelly blocked an Italian clearance. The loose ball was collected by Stokes who stroked a beautiful pass to Clarke and the young Cork native beat a defender before dummying the goalkeeper and firing home the opening goal.

Three minutes later, Italy responded with their first shot of the night but it went well over the crossbar. From the ensuing goal kick, Stokes pounced on hesitancy in the Italian rearguard to release Clarke down the right. The Ipswich Town striker fired in a cross shot, which was blocked and came to Kelly who returned the ball into the penalty area where the alert Stokes collected the ball and shot but his effort rebounded to Clarke who tucked away his second goal of the evening. Minutes later the impressive Darron Gibson of Manchester United struck a powerful thirty yard shot which brought a good save from the goalkeeper.

Italy, realising that their cautious 4-5-1 system was being torn to ribbons by the classy Irish, made a substitution on thirty minutes and introduced the AS Roma striker Cerci who has played in Serie A this season. The switch to 4-4-2 did little to stem the flow of the Irish and an excellent piece of interplay between Kelly and Stokes resulted in the goalkeeper making another fine save from the former. With thirty nine minutes on the clock, Ireland struck once more when an Italian clearance was collected by Gibson ten yards outside the box. the Derry native powered past two defenders and struck a left footed shot which took a slight deflection as it crashed off the underside of the crossbar and into the net.

On the verge of half time, Italian frustration was embodied in a bad foul on Kelly by Candreva, who was deservedly cautioned. The half time whistle came as welcome relief to the thoroughly outclassed Italy.

On the second half resumption, the rain which had poured incessantly during the first half reached torrential proportions culminating in the pitch becoming waterlogged in parts. Ireland was undaunted by the conditions and both Stokes and Ian Morris had shots which just missed the target. Ten minutes into the second half, Ireland fell victim to the conditions when a back pass from the hitherto composed centre back Eddie Nolan, stopped abruptly on the sodden surface and substitute Cerci raced on to the ball to shoot past the unguarded Darren Randolph.

Sensing a glimmer of hope, Italy made two swift substitutions but Ireland contained all of their efforts and began to reassert their authority on the game. On seventy minutes, Sean McCaffrey made his first substitution when he introduced James O’Brien for the fleet footed Clarke who had run himself into the ground. Seconds later a forward move by Morris was halted in a cynical manner by Italian substitute Marsili who received a yellow card.

In the seventy second minute, Italy put together a rare passage of constructive play which released Cerci but his shot was saved by the feet of Randolph. Shortly afterwards, McCaffrey made a second substitution when Jonathan Hayes, who had made several dazzling runs down the left wing, was replaced by Shelbourne midfielder James Chambers. With ten minutes remaining, an error from Gibson, who was magnificent in the midfield anchor role throughout the tournament, led to another opportunity for the Italians but the imposing Randolph was equal to the shot and saved well.

Ireland defended their position in the best manner possible by taking the game to the opposition and on eighty two minutes, a searing thirty yard drive from Morris was turned round the post for a corner. Skipper Kelly’s delivery from the right, was poorly defended by Italy and the ball dropped to Nolan who tucked it into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

With six minutes remaining, Diarmuid O’Carroll replaced the superb Stokes whose departure from the pitch was illegally assisted by an Italian player resulting in another yellow card for the beleaguered blues. The final act of the game brought further shame on the Italians when Marsili, the sixtieth minute substitute who had been booked ten minutes after his entry, fouled Morris in a disgraceful manner. His dismissal was inevitable.

This Irish squad under the guidance of Sean McCaffrey supported by his coaching aides Tony McGuirk and Declan McIntyre has improved immeasurably and will look forward with eager anticipation to the Elite Group draw scheduled to take place in Cyprus at the end of November.

Team:
Darren Randolph (Charlton Athletic);
Sean Kelly (Arsenal), Edward Nolan (Blackburn Rovers), Darren O’Dea (Glasgow Celtic), Darren Stapleton (Reading);
John Paul Kelly (Bohemians), Darron Gibson (Manchester United), Ian Morris (Leeds United – Loan Blackpool), Jonathan Hayes (Reading);
Anthony Stokes (Arsenal), Billy Clarke (Ipswich Town).

Substitutes: James O’Brien (Glasgow Celtic) for Clarke (70 minutes), James Chambers (Shelbourne) for Hayes (75 minutes), Diarmuid O’Carroll for Stokes (84 minutes).

Unused Substitutes: Stephen Henderson (Aston Villa), Simon Madden (Leeds United), Marc Mukendi (Derry City), Mark Keane (Bohemians – injured).

Final standings:

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Republic of Ireland	3	3	0	0	9	2	9
Northern Ireland	3	1	1	1	3	3	4
Italy	3	1	1	1	3	4	4
Moldova	3	0	0	3	1	7	0

Republic of Ireland Goalscorers:

Clarke 3, Gibson 1, Hayes 1, Morris 1, Nolan 1, O’Carroll 1, Stokes 1.