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European joy for Richie Towell and Ireland u-19s

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Ireland’s u-19 side defeated host nation Ukraine 1-0 in Kiev today to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the final stages of the European Championships.

A penalty on the hour mark from Chelsea skipper Connor Clifford was enough to give Ireland the win with Richie Towell playing a key role in the victory.

After losing out 1-0 to England in their opening match a win was essential against the hosts ahead of Monday’s final match with Bosnia-Herzengovena.

The win was achieved with ten men after Manchester United’s Robbie Brady was ordered off just two minutes into the second half.

Speaking before the clash with Ukraine Towell said: “Ukraine aren’t going to give up lightly, they are the European champions and we know we will have to be on top of our game to beat them.

“This is a really talented squad of players and we have been working really hard with our coaching staff over the past week in preparation for these games.

“We believe that we are capable of winning and in turn, hope that Ukraine beat England in the final game”.

He added: “Make no mistake, it’s not an ideal situation that we find ourselves in – chasing qualification after losing our opening game. We are not out of this competition yet and the lads in the squad know that.

“All of the talk last week was about the star-studded England team, full of Premier League and Championship players.

“We were better than them on the day with the defence keeping the brightest stars of England’s future at bay except for an unbelievable free-kick from Dean Parrett but we have to move on and take the positives from that game.

“We have too many good players in the squad who deserve to be contesting European Championships and World Cups at this level.”

Full coverage on the FAI website

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