If rest of Ireland under-17 squad respond like midfielder did, they’re going in right direction

The injustice of it all.

The Republic of Ireland under-17s were screwed all the way out of the European Championships on Monday night. After trawling deep to battle back from a 1-0 deficit to force their quarter final tie with the Netherlands to a penalty shootout, Colin O'Brien's side were undone by a frustratingly pedantic refereeing decision. With the Ireland team staring defeat and elimination from the competition in the face, netminder James Corcoran performed the stop of his career, getting down swiftly to his right to keep the fourth Dutch penalty taker's effort out. Then suddenly, Corcoran's heroics and the Irish team's dream was turned upside down when the Czech Republic referee Zbynek Proske ordered the penalty to be re-taken due to a perceived breach of the rule-book from Corcoran. The man in the middle deemed that the Navan stopper had left his line too early. Now you wouldn't mind if the referee was a consistent stickler for the rule, but photographic evidence showed that the Dutch keeper had completed a similar infraction in one of the penalties he'd kept out and let's face it, if you were to examine every keeper's technique in a shoot-out to such hairsplitting levels, then it would take all day to complete a shootout. To compound matters even further, the referee went on to issue Corcoran with a yellow card, his second of the night, which would mean that centre back Oisín McEntee would have to stand in for the re-taken spot kick. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/996287722695397376 The Dutch would go onto net this which would send Ireland packing. The sense of injustice was palpable around the country but thoroughly justified. A bunch of sixteen, seventeen year-olds, on the cusp of their dreams were cruelly shot down by a frankly outrageous call. Setbacks like these are tough to take always but they can affect people in two ways. You can wallow in self pity feeling sorry for yourself or you can get back up on your feet and rally again. You can put the head down, motivated by the heartache, and come back stronger. All of the Ireland under-17s must have been sickened last night. For them right now, this competition must have felt like the biggest thing in the world. We're all well aware, however, that winning in these underage championships shouldn't be the be-all and end-all, it should be about moulding characters, and angling players for successful senior careers. If half of these players respond to the adversity like their midfielder Barry Coffey did, then, they're going in the right direction, then, at least we know we have a bunch of characters coming through with the grit and steal to wear the Ireland jersey for years to come.

"The so called fighting Irish can’t mix it with the standard of European football?" Wrote the Tipperary man on his Twitter. "Cheers for everyone’s support over this 3 year journey," said the Celtic Academy player. Words can’t describe how we feel right now about that result. The future it bright and we will be back stronger than ever."

https://twitter.com/barrycoffey101/status/996126767550263296 That's character. That's good to see.