Ireland U17s progress to last 16 of World Cup after dramatic penalty shootout against Canada

The 42

Ireland U17s 1

Canada U17s 1

Ireland win penalty shootout 9-8

THE REPUBLIC OF Ireland have progressed to the last 16 at the U17 World Cup in Qatar, where they will face Switzerland.

Colin O’Brien’s side came through a dramatic penalty shootout to see off Canada, following a 1-1 draw in Doha.

Michael Noonan broke the deadlock in the 65th minute, but Canada levelled through Sergei Kozlovskiy five minutes from time to send the game straight to penalties.

Goalkeeper Alex Noonan was Ireland’s hero in sudden death of a tense — and fiery — shootout, denying Elijah Roche. The Shamrock Rovers youngster took the Man of the Match award after some big moments in normal time.

The Irish players held their nerve amidst theatrics from Canadian ‘keeper Jonathan Ransom: he was yellow-carded, with plenty of verbals and over and back throughout.

Canada manager Mike Vitulano was another central character in a heated, 10-round shootout.

Noonan’s goal looked like it might settle a cagey encounter between two evenly-matched sides; the Rovers star capitalising on a Canadian defensive error and holding his composure to dink home.

But Kozlovskiy levelled matters with a fine volley in the 85th minute: It came after Ireland struggled to clear a long throw-in and a controlled effort from outside the box flew through a crowd of green bodies.

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It was a hammer blow for the Boys In Green, who had several other good chances through Noonan, Ramon Martos and Jayden Umeh in another impressive team performance.

But they dug deep in difficult conditions, having previously topped their group with wins over Panama and Uzbekistan and a draw with Paraguay.

The Noonans set the tone in the shootout: Michael scored, before Alex stepped up to deny Kevin Khan.

Finn Sherlock, Umeh and Vinnie Leonard then converted, but Ransom stopped Oisin McDonagh to ultimately send it to sudden death.

Kian McMahon-Brown, Rory Finneran, Victor Ozhianvuna, Grady McDonnell and Ryan Butlerall all scored, before Noonan produced the decisive save.

After a lengthy delay and some confusion, Ireland were confirmed as winners to wild celebrations.

The journey continues — and the feel-good factor in Irish football heightens following last night’s World Cup qualifier win over Portugal at Aviva Stadium.

Switzerland await the tournament debutants in the last 16 next week, after their 3-1 win over Egypt earlier.

Republic of Ireland: Alex Noonan; Oisin McDonagh, Vinnie Leonard, Ryan Butler, Ade Solanke (Finn Sherlock 82); Rory Finneran, Grady McDonnell, Ramon Martos (Kian McMahon-Brown 72); Jaden Umeh, Victor Ozhianvuna, Michael Noonan

Canada: Jonathan Ransom; Sahil Deo, Josh Nteziryayo, Richard Chukwu (Sergei Kozlovskiy 76), Elijah Roche; Dylan Judelson, Kevin Khan, Tim Fortier (Aghilas Sadek 76); Shola Jimoh (Johnny Selemani 62), Aidan Evans (Marius Aiyenero 62), Van Parker

Referee: Jelly Chavani (South Africa).

Written by Emma Duffy and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.