The rain, which had fallen heavily throughout the morning across the south coast, had subsided when Sean McCaffrey’s U19 side took to the soggy surface of St Colmans Park, Cobh on Tuesday evening for their second UEFA Group 6 qualifying game against Moldova. Ireland knew that victory would guarantee them a place in the elite stage of the competition following the goalless draw between Italy and Northern Ireland earlier that afternoon in Midleton.

The early exchanges of the contest were engaged at a sizzling pace with both sides attempting to come to terms with the heavy surface. The first real opening of the match arrived on five minutes when tidy build up play by Anthony Stokes offered a shooting opportunity to Ian Morris, but his strike went just over the crossbar. The tie continued to be played at a swift pace with Ireland showing excellent qualities in their distribution and movement.

Ireland’s dominance was emphasised by a succession of attempts on goal. Skipper, John Paul Kelly struck a fine shot just over the crossbar on eighteen minutes and less than a minute later, centre back, Darren O’ Dea met a free kick from Arsenal youngster, Sean Kelly with a powerful header, which skimmed the crossbar. Kelly, the second Kerry native in the squad along with Diarmuid O’Carroll, was the only change made by Sean McCaffrey to the starting line up from the opening fixture. The full back replaced broken leg victim Mark Keane.

With the Irish midfield, again anchored by the splendid Darron Gibson, in total command, the strike pairing of Billy Clarke and Anthony Stokes was causing the Moldovan defence all sorts of problems. Stokes created an opening for himself on twenty seven minutes but his shot was saved by the opposition goalkeeper. The breakthrough finally arrived two minutes later, when Reading full back Darren Stapleton, who was competing with great distinction, delivered a quick throw down the left touchline to Stokes. The Arsenal star left his marker on his backside as he turned towards goal and fed a fine ball to Jonathan Hayes. Hayes of Reading used his quick feet brilliantly to beat two defenders inside the penalty area and cleverly clipped the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper and into the net.

Buoyed by taking the lead the Irish lads continued to pressurise the opposition and Ipswich Town’s Clarke delivered two splendid left wing crosses into the box but nobody managed to get on the end of them. Ireland’s only lapse occurred on thirty eight minutes when the commanding O’Dea allowed the Moldovan striker Suvorov to pass him but he shot wastefully over the crossbar. Ireland’s final opportunity of the first half came when a free kick was touched to Gibson and his powerful thirty yard effort was blocked by the goalkeeper and the rebound was driven across the goal by Clarke.

The second half continued in the same vein with Stokes twice forcing saves from the goalkeeper in the opening five minutes. In the fiftieth minute, Ireland was awarded a penalty for handball and Ian Morris, drove the kick into the top left hand corner of the net. Minutes later, Clarke was unlucky when his left foot volley went just over the crossbar. Shortly afterwards, John Paul (‘Joxer’) Kelly took a quick corner on the right and received the return pass before jinking his way past two defenders and drilling a low shot which was blocked on the line with the follow up effort from Stokes also turned away for a corner. In the 63rd minute, Stokes, who had been prominent throughout the game, had another fine shot saved by the goalkeeper.

With Ireland in comfortable command, manager Sean McCaffrey chose to ring the changes and introduced James Chambers of Shelbourne, who was making his debut at this competitive level, James O’Brien and Diarmuid O’Carroll for Jonathan Hayes, Billy Clarke and Ian Morris respectively. With three minutes remaining, Stokes again beat his marker and struck a cracking shot which was parried by the goalkeeper and the alert O’Carroll swiftly followed up to score. As the game entered the final seconds, Stokes broke into the box where he was fouled for another penalty. The Arsenal starlet took the kick himself but sadly for him, his shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

This convincing victory means that Ireland is sure to qualify for the next Elite stage of the championships and while Sean McCaffrey and his players will be eager to top the group when they meet Italy in Turners Cross on Thursday night, the manager does have the opportunity to give a well earned rest to some of his starlets should he choose to do so.

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 Chambers (Shelbourne) for Hayes (66 minutes), James O’Brien (Glasgow Celtic) for Clarke (70 minutes), Diarmuid O’Carroll (Glasgow Celtic) for Morris (82 minutes).

Unused Substitutes: Stephen Henderson (Aston Villa), Simon Madden (Leeds United), Marc Mukendi (Derry City).

Ireland is competing with a seventeen-man squad following the opening game tackle which resulted in Bohemians player Mark Keane, breaking both the tibia and fibia in his right leg after twelve minutes of the match.

Keane underwent surgery at Cork University Hospital on Monday where he had a 12 inch rod inserted between the knee and ankle of his shattered leg.