Ireland show promise to progress

The Republic of Ireland topped UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round Group 6 without a conceding a goal - and will be joined in the next stage by Azerbaijan at the expense of unbeaten Denmark.

Azerbaijan success
Group hosts Azerbaijan made a good start with a 2-1 win against Latvia in Baku's national Tofikh Bakhramov stadium. Eshgin Guliyev put Azerbaijan into an eighth-minute lead and Tural Safarov added another on the half-hour. Novruz Mammatov ensured a nervous last 13 minutes with his own goal. Across the city in the Shafa stadium, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland drew 0-0. Denmark went closest but one shot was tipped on to the crossbar by Ireland goalkeeper Kieron Thorpe.

Ireland go top
Two days later Denmark drew again at the Shafa stadium. They fell behind to Latvia through Deniss Tarasous's 16th-minute penalty, but Morten Nielsen swiftly equalised and Kasper Dam Mortensen gave Denmark the advantage early in the second half. However, with three minutes left Tarasous found the target again to secure a point. That allowed Ireland to take the lead in the group as they defeated Azerbaijan 2-0 at the Tofikh Bakhramov stadium. Ireland were dominant in the first half and just before the break Conor McCormack struck after combining with Ian Daly. On 59 minutes Gareth Matthews made it two as he headed in a Joe Collins corner.

'Great achievement'
Ireland, their starting lineup based entirely in England apart from Celtic FC midfielder Mark Nolan, then secured qualification with another 2-0 victory against Latvia at the Shafa stadium. Latvia were holding on well until Liverpool FC striker Michael Collins produced a superb lob to open the scoring early in the second half. McCormack then returned the favour for his goal against Azerbaijan by setting up Daly to clinch victory. Seán McCaffrey's assistant as Ireland manager, Joe Boyle, said: "The squad played very well in all of their three matches. It's a great achievement to finish top of the group because the other nations were extremely strong and the games were played in hot conditions. We're already looking forward to the next phase where hopefully the team can qualify for next summer's European finals in Belgium."

Denmark out
Alongside them in December's Elite round draw will be Azerbaijan. Denmark had never failed to progress beyond this stage at U17 level, but needed to win in the Tofikh Bakhramov stadium. But the home side held out for a 0-0 draw, and Denmark will not even have the consolation of going through as the best third-placed team from across the 12 groups as their record is inferior to Wales.