Nine-man Germany hold on

Republic of Ireland manager Sean McCaffrey knows his side need a favour from Bulgaria on Saturday if they are to qualify for the UEFA European Under-19 Championship after losing 1-0 to nine-man Germany tonight.

Ben Hatira winner
Ireland, the mini-tournament hosts, could have progressed to the finals in Austria with a match to spare had they won at Dalymount Park, but now need Germany to slip up after Anis Ben-Hatira scored the only goal of this Group 1 encounter from the penalty spot in the 17th minute. The spot-kick was awarded after full-back Simon Madden felled Sebastian Tyrala in the area.

Two dismissed
Having been restored to the team after sitting out Monday's opening 3-0 defeat of Bulgaria, Keith Treacy was an impressive performer in a first half in which he created chances for Anthony Stokes and Adam Rooney as well as going close himself. However, the winger picked up an injury which prevented him from appearing after the break and Ireland lacked his cutting edge as they failed to equalise despite Germany being reduced to ten men following dismissals for Alexander Eberlein and Ben-Hatira.

'Confident'
McCaffrey told fai.ie: "We had 70 per cent of the possession and deserved to win the game. I'd be confident that we can beat Hungary at United Park on Saturday. However, the control of the group is now with Germany and we need Bulgaria to give them a decent test on Saturday."