The Republic of Ireland Under-19 side secured an impressive draw with Switzerland in a thrilling final game of their UEFA U19 Championships qualifying round group at the RSC in Waterford.
The result ensures that Ireland advance to the elite phase of the competition alongside Group Six winners Switzerland.
Ireland got off to a poor start with Aldin Turkes capitalising on hesitant home defending to break through and slot the ball past keeper Peter Burke in the first minute.
However, the Irish response was immense and Swiss keeper Fabian Fellmann was arguably man of the match with a string of remarkable saves throughout.
Shamrock Rovers defender Sean Heaney was unlucky to head narrowly over from a Ryan Manning free-kick in the eighth minute.
The Irish had a let off in the 25th minute when Turkes shot over an empty net after Nicolas Hunziker robbed Irish keeper Burke, who had slipped dealing with a back pass.
Impressive Galway forward Manning produced a stunning volley from outside the box in the 31st minute after connecting with a cross by Joel Coustrain. It deserved a goal.
It was Turkes looking dangerous once more in the 40th minute as he fired straight at Burke from close range. The Sunderland keeper made a decent save.
Ireland broke down the field immediately and Fellmann made three amazing saves to keep the Irish out. He denied Manning first then Coustrain from the rebound before the ball came to Reece Grego-Cox and Fellmann somehow forced the ball out for a corner.
From Manning's delivery Fiacre Kelleher got in a header that was cleared off the line then Fellmann made another amazing save from Grego-Cox.
Two minutes into the second half Eoghan Sokes had a very clever header tipped over by Fellmann for a corner and it was from Manning's delivery that the equaliser finally arrived.
Grego-Cox got his head to Manning's corner and the ball looped into the roof of the Swiss net.
Paul Doolin's side finished the game with ten men after captain Noe Baba picked up a second yellow card in the 51st minute.
Unfortunately, Baba was dismissed after a foul on Kilian Pagliuca and the Irish had to defend with ten men for more than 40 minutes action.
Switzerland thought they had regained the lead in the 72nd minute when a corner landed to Louis Gebistorf but his effort was cleared off the line by Jamie Mulhall.
FT: Ireland U19 1-1 Switzerland. UEFA U19 Championships Qualifiers. Both sides progress to Elite Phase. The Swiss topping the group #IrlU19
— FAI (@FAIreland) November 18, 2014"Overall I can only be delighted. The players really excelled and if we hadn't gone down to ten men I felt the winner would come to us," said head coach Paul Doolin.
"The only negative from that game was the defending of their goal so early on but after that we were exceptional. The defending was top class and the performance as a whole was very good.
"This is a good group of players. We have lost just once in eight games with them and we look forward to the Elite Phase draw. It's a step up but they deserve to be there."
SWITZERLAND: Fabian Fellmann, Nils Von Niederhäusern, Ulisses Garcia, Louis Gebistorf, Nico Elvedi, Kilian Pagliuca, Djibril Sow, Maxime Dominguez, Denis Lemi Zakaria, Nicolas Hunziker, Aldin Turkes.
Subs: Joao De Oliveira for Dominguez 46, Dmitri Oberlin for Turkes 57, Nikola Milosavljevic for Zakaria 86.
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND: Peter Burke, Noe Baba (c), Bobby Moseley, Fiacre Kelleher, Reece Grego-Cox, Harry Charsley, Ryan Manning, Eoghan Stokes, Joel Coustrain, Sean Heaney, Adam McDonnell.
Subs: Jamie Mulhall for McDonnell 54, Connor Dimaio for Stokes 74, Jamie McGrath for Coustrain 92.
