Irish are Group 6 top dogs
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Article summary
Republic of Ireland and Lithuania advanced to the second qualifying round from the Group 6 mini-tournament.
Article body
Yeates equaliser
It was the Irish, winners of this tournament in 1998 in its previous Under-18 guise, that got the competition under way, drawing 1-1 with Bulgaria in Serravalle on the opening day. Hriste Zalatinski gave the Bulgarians the lead and it needed a 90th-minute goal from Mark Yeates to draw the Irish level.
Laudable draw
The Sammarinese hosts began their own campaign with a laudable 1-1 draw against Lithuania in Fiorentino. Kestutis Ivaskevicius put the Lithuanians one ahead after just 13 minutes but Matteo Valli's nerveless spot-kick seven minutes from the end rescued a point for San Marino.
Disaster for Sammarinese
The next round of games spelt disaster for the Sammarinese, though, as they lost 10-1 against Ireland in Serravalle. Six different Irish players got on the scoresheet with Karl Bermingham notching a hat-trick while Yeates and Stephen Ward registered a goal apiece. Lithuania edged out Bulgaria 1-0 courtesy of Evaldas Razulis's 74th-minute goal in the round's other game.
Final day drama
That meant that going into the final day the Irish just needed to draw with Lithuania to progress. In the event they won 2-1 to wrap up top spot thanks to a last-minute strike by Ward.
McStay opener
Henry McStay opened the scoring for Ireland after 25 minutes when he headed a Patrick Cregg cross into the net after his initial effort came back off the crossbar. Ten minutes later, Lithuania drew level when Kestutis Juasjkevicius powered the ball into the net from a free-kick. Following the dismissal of Ziluyuas Banys for violent conduct, Ireland made their one-man advantage count and Ward grabbed a winner.
Bulgaria win in vain
Lithuania also progressed to the next round after finishing level on points with Bulgaria but ahead of them on head-to-head results. The Bulgarians' 7-0 victory against San Marino in their final game was therefore in vain - although they still have a chance of scrapping through if they finish as the best third-placed side after all 12 first-round groups are concluded.