The Irish under-17s have received a particularly tough draw for the group stage of the European Championships in Bulgaria at the start of May. Tom Mohan's side will face Italy, the Netherlands and last year's champions England with the top two progressing to the quarter-finals.

“There’s no doubting that this is going to be a very tough group but we knew when we qualified that we’d be mixing with top-quality teams no matter who you are in with,” said Mohan after the draw was announced.

"England beat Holland in the final last year so they are naturally going to be top-class opposition. Italy always excellent at underage level so of course we expect all of our games to be tough. However our players have done brilliantly for us this year and I am confident that they can prove ourselves against the best teams in Europe. "