Northern Ireland Women’s U17s lost 4-1 to Scotland in a Euro qualifier in Edinburgh this evening.
Alfie Wylie’s side were four down by half-time in the game at the Oriam complex but played much better after the break.
Scotland is hosting a mini tournament over the next week as part of the qualifying round for the 2020 UEFA European Women’s Under-17 Championship. Competing with the Scots and Northern Ireland in Group 10 are Italy and Montenegro. The Italians defeated the Montenegrins 2-0 earlier today.
The Scots, who had 18 attempts in the match compared to Northern Ireland’s five efforts, quickly got off the mark against the girls in green and white, defender Paige McAllister scoring after just four minutes.
And they were two-up 10 minutes later when defender Robyn McCafferty got on the end of a Monica Forsyth corner to sweep the ball into the net.
The third goal was scored in the 24th minute. Forsyth found striker Rosie McQuillan and she did the rest. And McQuillan grabbed her second and Scotland’s fourth just three minutes later, and Forsyth was once again the provider.
Northern Ireland keeper Jenna Corry, who had replaced Rachael Norney in nets after Scotland’s second, produced three fine saves to keep the score down before the interval.
After the break Northern Ireland were much more lively. Both Cora Chambers and Rosie Zubier had attempts on goal before Erin McGreevy missed a chance on 70 minutes. And on 74 minutes Cora Morgan grabbed a consolation for Wylie’s side.
In the closing stages Corry was busy again, producing a couple of fine stops to leave the final score at 4-1 to the hosts.
Next up for the Northern Ireland girls is a match against Italy’s WU17s on Thursday, while their final game in the mini tournament is versus Montenegro on Sunday.
The top two sides in 11 groups plus the four third-placed teams with the best record against the top two in their section will go into an elite round draw later this year, with the elite round games in spring 2020. Seven teams will eventually join hosts Sweden in the finals in May 2020.
Northern Ireland WU17s v Scotland: Rachael Norney, Grace Glancy, Ella Haughey, Fi Morgan, Shona Davis, Erin O’Neill, Grainne O’Casey, Cora Cambers, Cora Morgan, Rosie Zubier, Tierna Bell. Substitutes: (used) Jenna Corry, Erin McGreevy, Cora Mervyn, Ellie Mae Dickson, Caoimhe Mulholland; (not used) Aimee Neal, Abbie Redmond, Katie Dickson, Cara Tumelty.