ROMA MCLAUGHLIN and the Republic of Ireland Under-19s made safe top spot in their UEFA European Championships qualifying group.
A 2-0 win over Italy this afternoon in Macedonia meant three wins from three for the Girls in Green, with Greencastle’s McLaughlin again lining out in the Irish engine room.
Ireland now head for the Elite Qualifiers as group winners and a top seed.
After a 10-0 win over hosts Macedonia and a 2-0 success against Wales, Ireland went into today’s game brimming with confidence.
[adrotate group=”80″]Manager Dave Connell opted to stick with the same starting line-up that overcame Wales and his decision paid off on 33 minutes when Cork native Saoirse Noonan opened the scoring.
Defender Chloe Moloney made it 2-0 on 58 minutes after good work by Niamh Prior and that was all they needed to complete their objective of coming away from Skopje with maximum points.
“We needed to beat Italy to top the group and we did it in style. We played really well as a team against a very good Italian side and it was a real team performance that got us through,” said Connell.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with some great teams through the years and this team can potentially go all the way. Now, we won’t get too carried away, but we are certainly going in the right direction.”
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