Incredible behaviour!
The Ireland U17s are through to the last-16 at the World Cup following an epic 9-8 penalty shootout win over Canada in Qatar, after the game finished 1-1 during normal time.
After defeating Egypt 3-1, Switzerland will take on the Boys in Green on Tuesday, with the two sides drawing 1-1 in a warm-up game last month.
The shootout with Canada was marred with controversy, mainly down to the antics of Maple Leafs keeper Jonathan Ransom, who spent a considerable amount of time taunting and delaying the Irish players.
He was reprimanded by the referee for doing pull-ups on his crossbar, before producing a great save to deny Oisín McDonagh.
He also heckled the Canadian-born Grady McDonnell, who chose to wear green over red.
But the Irish players were having none of his antics, with McDonnell and Kian McMahon Brown giving it right back to him after nailing their spot-kicks, while Michael Noonan could be seen telling him to “fuck off”.
After the game, manager Colin O’Brien said: “Right now it’s a lot of joy right here. I’ve no doubt the families of the players, the clubs, back home in Ireland, everyone watching the game, I’d say there’s a lot of joy going into people’s houses tonight and that’s what the players are bringing, they’re really connecting with the nation.
“Tonight, every emotion, players, staff, supporters went through, but that’s what knockout football is about and we’ve come out on the right side of it tonight and showed great nerve to get the outcome.
“At least we get the extra day of recovery on this side because we don’t play until Tuesday. They need that bit of time just to enjoy the moment, that’s really important.
“Rest and recovery will still be important but there’s also that time where they nearly need a real down day tomorrow.
“But for staff, there is no real down day, we’ve got to prepare. It’ll be an interesting game with Switzerland, there’ll be two good teams going out on Tuesday.
“We played them in September, we played them in October, both teams know each other inside out. But as I said, this will be two really good teams at each other on Tuesday.”
