U19s dance to vintage tune

By David Farrelly in Belfast

The vibrancy of youth, illustrated by the title of The Undertones' September 1978 hit Teenage Kicks, adorned posters across Northern Ireland to advertise the 2005 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. It was an appropriate manner of recognition of both local and international talent.

Common ground
The Undertones, a punk-then-pop band that emerged from Derry during the latter half of the 1970s, grew up during a troubled time in Northern Ireland's history, but played music that helped to inspire and invigorate a generation. As a country, Northern Ireland has endured highs and lows in its recent past, but in a climate of ongoing political change, football has emerged as one potential vehicle to help differing cultures find common ground.

Football for all
The Irish Football Association (IFA) have been active via their 'Football for all' campaign to ensure that bigotry gets the boot among football followers within the six counties while clubs are also finding ways at building new working relationships. The inaugural Setanta Cup, played between the most successful clubs either side of the Irish border earlier in the year, provided winners from Belfast in the form of Linfield FC, whose home ground, Windsor Park, played host to the U19 final.

Rainsoaked finale
But despite prevailing sunshine for the opening eleven days of the tournament, the south Belfast venue suffered a steady downpour throughout the afternoon before the showpiece featuring France and England kicked off. The wet conditions may have taken the edge off the overall attendance which numbered a respectable 4,723, but did not deter two teams of teenagers from getting their footballing kicks.

Positive touch
On the field, England offered little attacking threat before Lee Holmes intercepted Mohamed Chakouri's wayward pass after 41 minutes to beat Hugo Lloris with a deft chip - which benefited from a slight deflection - from 20 metres. Until then, France had bossed the match with some tidy one-touch passing but without any tangible reward. With Yohan Gourcuff and Vassiriki Diaby's constant probing from midfield and well-timed runs in attack from Abdoulaye Balde and Franck Dja Djedje, Jean Gallice's side had an assuredness on the ball that only lacked a positive touch in front of goal.

Second-half revival
However, they finally found their goalscoring range after the interval to eventually pull away from their brave opponents. Chakouri gleefully atoned for his earlier error by nodding in Balde's corner after 56 minutes to restore parity. France then went ahead for good when Yassin Moutaouakil's low cross from the right side found Balde unmarked in the penalty area and he turned to fire past David Martin with a low shot to the goalkeeper's left. They then finished with a flurry and secured the victory two minutes from time through substitute Yohan Gouffran to ensure Gallice finished his time as coach on the highest possible note.

It's going to happen
Thus, just as The Undertones lived their wild teenage dreams in 1978, France's youngsters lived theirs at Windsor Park in 2005 with several of the team assured to have taken a major step to future involvement on an even larger international stage.