NORTHERN Ireland U17s failed to reach the next phase of the UEFA European Championships following a two-goal defeat to Turkey at Stangmore Park. Stephen Robinsons side knew they realistically needed a win to secure one of the two qualifying places from the Group 9 mini-tournament held throughout the country this week. Northern Ireland started well with Stephen Fallon having a third minute effort blocked before Jordan Thompson sent a free-kick just wide a quarter-of-an-hour later. Then, just before the break Adam Salley had a close range effort snuffed out by Turkish keeper Tarik Cetin. Turkey came out stronger after the break. Enes Unal sent a shot just wide on 47 minutes before, six minutes later, he opened the scoring for the visitors. Spurred on by this, Turkey doubled their advantage on 66 minutes through Hayrullah Alici to effectively seal Northern Irelands fate given that news was filtering through from the other Group 9 game that Latvia - Northern Irelands rivals for that second qualifying spot - had hit two goals in quick succession against Luxembourg, a lead they went on to hold. Northern Ireland: Long, Hall, Foster, Whiteside, Quigley, Ives, Law, Thompson, Fallon, Salley, Mooney subs McDonagh (not used), Mallon (not used), Paul (replaced Law 67), Lavery (replaced Fallon 49), Smith (replaced Hall 60), Hoey (not used)
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 04:27:56 +0000
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