Northern Ireland’s Under-17s produced an excellent performance as they drew 1-1 against Poland U17s in an invitational tournament in Spain.
Competition
Prep Tournament
Scoreline
Poland U17s 1-1 Northern Ireland U17s
Scorers
Northern Ireland: Sidney Eldred (86’)
Venue
Estadio Olimpico Camilo Cano, La Nucia
Date
6 February 2025
Team News
U17s boss Andy Waterworth has brought a 22-strong squad to Spain for a four-team preparation tournament ahead of U17 Euro 2025 elite round qualifiers next month.
The Norwegian Football Federation has organised the tournament at La Nucia. It features Norway, Sweden, Poland and Northern Ireland.
How it happened
Although it was 50/50 possession overall in the game, Northern Ireland created far more chances than their Polish counterparts.
In the opening 20 minutes alone they had three good opportunities. Paul McGovern had a one-on-one with the Polish keeper. He managed to dink the ball over him, but his shot drifted wide. Then both Ceadach O’Neill and Chris Atherton had decent efforts.
Northern Ireland were well organised defensively, with Callum Leacock and Alex Watson particularly resolute.
And up front McGovern, O’Neill and Atherton constantly caused headaches for the Polish defence.
Half-time: Poland U17s 0-0 Northern Ireland U17s
Coist Walker, who was a late call-up to the squad, did well after coming on to play in a wing-back role as Northern Ireland continued to push forward.
O’Neill had a one-on-one with the keeper but his shot struck the post.
Poland took the lead on 65 minutes against the run of play.
In the 86th minute substitute Joel Kerr was upended in the area and Sidney Eldred stepped up to fire home the spot kick to make it 1-1. It was his first goal for the U17s.
Afterwards Waterworth said: “It was a great performance. We showed a lot of maturity in how we went about our business and I have to really credit the players for the hard work they put in.
“This group continues to show humility in how they prepare for games. If I’m looking for areas of development I would challenge the players to be more clinical. We wasted some really good opportunities.”
Waterworth’s team are back at Estadio Olimpico Camilo Cano on Saturday (8 February) to take on Norway (7pm local time), and they will be at the same venue again on Monday 10 February for their third and final game in the mini tournament when Sweden will be their opponents. It’s another 7pm start.
Full-time: Poland U17s 1-1 Northern Ireland U17s
Line-ups
Northern Ireland squad:
Goalkeepers - Finn McDonnell, Kai Morgan.
Defenders – Callum Leacock, Calum Anderson, Alex Watson, Oisin Gamble, Darragh McCann, Noah McDonnell, Cead McGrath, Ben Wilson.
Midfielders – Troy Savage, Jack Faloona, Matthew Burns, Brandon Downey, Glenn McCourt, Coist Walker.
Forwards – Chris Atherton, Paul McGovern, Ceadach O’Neill, Joel Kerr, Sidney Eldred, Kalum Thompson.
